Wisdom 17:3

3 They thought that their sins had been secret and unnoticed, shielded from view by a dark curtain of forgetfulness, but now they were horribly afraid, confused, and terrified by ghostly forms.

Wisdom 17:3 In-Context

1 O Lord, your acts of judgment are marvelous and hard to explain; that is why people who had not been taught about them went astray.

2 When lawless people imagined that they had your holy nation in their power, they were themselves imprisoned in a long night of darkness. They lay in their own houses, shut off from your eternal care.

3 They thought that their sins had been secret and unnoticed, shielded from view by a dark curtain of forgetfulness, but now they were horribly afraid, confused, and terrified by ghostly forms.

4 Not even the dark corners where they lay could protect them from fear. They were surrounded by horrible noises; grim ghosts with gloomy faces appeared before their eyes.

5 No fire had power to give them light, and the brilliant stars could do nothing to relieve that deathly darkness.