5Then the righteous will stand with great confidence
in the presence of those who have oppressed them
and those who make light of their labours.
²When the unrighteous^* see them, they will be shaken with dreadful fear,
and they will be amazed at the unexpected salvation of the righteous.
³They will speak to one another in repentance,
and in anguish of spirit they will groan, and say,
⁴‘These are persons whom we once held in derision
and made a byword of reproach—fools that we were!
We thought that their lives were madness
and that their end was without honour.
⁵Why have they been numbered among the children of God?
And why is their lot among the saints?
¹⁴Because the hope of the ungodly is like thistledown^* carried by the wind,
and like a light frost^* driven away by a storm;
it is dispersed like smoke before the wind,
and it passes like the remembrance of a guest who stays but a day.

The Reward of the Righteous

¹⁵But the righteous live for ever,
and their reward is with the Lord;
the Most High takes care of them.
¹⁶Therefore they will receive a glorious crown
and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord,
because with his right hand he will cover them,
and with his arm he will shield them.