Wisdom 12:7-9

Revised Standard Version

⁷ that the land most precious of all to thee
might receive a worthy colony of the servants^[a] of God.
⁸ But even these thou didst spare, since they were but men,
and didst send wasps^[b] as forerunners of thy army,
to destroy them little by little,
⁹ though thou wast not unable to give the ungodly into the hands of the righteous in battle,
or to destroy them at one blow by dread wild beasts or thy stern word.