“They will say.
‘These are persons
Whom we once held in derision.
We made them a byword of reproach.
We were fools!
We thought that their lives were madness.
Their end was without honor.
Why have they been numbered
Among the children of God?
Why is their lot among the saints?
So it was we
Who strayed from the way of truth.
The light of righteousness did not shine on us.
The sun did not rise upon us.
We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness.
We took our fill of the paths of destruction.
We journeyed through trackless deserts.
But the way of the Lord
We have not known.
What has our arrogance profited us?
What good has our boasted wealth brought us?’”
The unjust laid out their complaint. They said that they derided and reproached these people. They thought that their lives were madness and without honor. It turns out that they are the fools, because the righteous are numbered among the sons or children of God (υἱοῖς Θεοῦ), the holy ones (ἁγίοις), not them. The unjust suddenly realized that they had strayed from the truth (ἀληθείας). The light of righteousness and the sun were not going to shine on them. They had followed the path of lawlessness and destruction through trackless deserts. They did not know the way of the Lord (ὁδὸν Κυρίου). Their arrogance and wealth became useless.