Wisdom 18:21-23

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

²¹ For a blameless man was quick to act as their champion;
he brought forward the shield of his ministry,
prayer and propitiation by incense;
he withstood the anger and put an end to the disaster,
showing that he was thy servant.
²² He conquered the wrath^[a] not by strength of body,
and not by force of arms,
but by his word he subdued the punisher,
appealing to the oaths and covenants given to our fathers.
²³ For when the dead had already fallen on one another in heaps,
he intervened and held back the wrath,
and cut off its way to the living.