2 Maccabees 6:13-15

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

¹³ In fact, it is a sign of great kindness not to let the impious alone for long, but to punish them immediately. ¹⁴ For in the case of the other nations the Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins; but he does not deal in this way with us, ¹⁵ in order that he should not take vengeance on us afterwards when our sins have reached their height.