Wisdom 5:14

14 What hope do wicked people have? Only the hope of straw blown about in the wind, the hope of ocean foam that disappears in the storm, the hope of smoke in the breeze. Their hope lasts no longer than our memory of a guest who stays one day and leaves the next.

Wisdom 5:14 In-Context

12 An arrow splits the air when it is shot at a target, but at once the air closes up behind it, and no one can tell where it passed.

13 It is the same with us - we were born, and then we ceased to be. We left no sign of virtue behind us; we were destroyed by our wickedness."

14 What hope do wicked people have? Only the hope of straw blown about in the wind, the hope of ocean foam that disappears in the storm, the hope of smoke in the breeze. Their hope lasts no longer than our memory of a guest who stays one day and leaves the next.

15 But the righteous live on forever. The Lord will reward them; the Most High will protect them.

16 He will give them royal splendor and a magnificent crown. He will shield them with his powerful arm.

Footnotes

• [a] ocean foam; [some manuscripts have] frost.