Wisdom 2

¹ For they said within themselves, with unsound reasoning, “Our life is short and sorrowful. There is no healing when a man comes to his end, and no one was ever known who was released from Hades.

² Because we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we will be as though we had never been, because the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our heart,

³ which being extinguished, the body will be turned into ashes, and the spirit will be dispersed as thin air.

⁴ Our name will be forgotten in time. No one will remember our works. Our life will pass away as the traces of a cloud, and will be scattered as is a mist, when it is chased by the rays of the sun, and overcome by its heat.

⁵ For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and our end doesn’t retreat, because it is securely sealed, and no one turns it back.

⁶ “Come therefore and let’s enjoy the good things that exist. Let’s use the creation earnestly as in our youth.

⁷ Let’s fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, and let no spring flower pass us by.

⁸ Let’s crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.

⁹ Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry. Let’s leave tokens of mirth everywhere, because this is our portion, and this is our lot.

¹⁰ Let’s oppress the righteous poor. Let’s not spare the widow, nor regard the gray hair of the old man.

¹¹ But let our strength be a law of righteousness; for that which is weak is proven useless.

¹² But let’s lie in wait for the righteous man, because he annoys us, is contrary to our works, reproaches us with sins against the law, and charges us with sins against our training.

¹³ He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.

¹⁴ He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.

¹⁵ He is grievous to us even to look at, because his life is unlike other men’s, and his paths are strange.

¹⁶ We were regarded by him as something worthless, and he abstains from our ways as from uncleanness. He calls the latter end of the righteous happy. He boasts that God is his father.

¹⁷ Let’s see if his words are true. Let’s test what will happen at the end of his life.

¹⁸ For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him, and he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.

¹⁹ Let’s test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and test his patience.

²⁰ Let’s condemn him to a shameful death, for he will be protected, according to his words.”

²¹ Thus they reasoned, and they were led astray; for their wickedness blinded them,

²² and they didn’t know the mysteries of God, neither did they hope for wages of holiness, nor did they discern that there is a prize for blameless souls.

²³ Because God created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own everlastingness;

²⁴ but death entered into the world by the envy of the devil, and those who belong to him experience it.

¹ FFor they have said, reasoning with themselves, but not right: The time of our life is short and tedious, and in the end of a man there is no remedy, and no man hath been known to have returned from hell:

² For we are born of nothing, and after this we shall be as if we had not been: for the breath in our nostrils is smoke: and speech a spark to move our heart,

³ Which being put out, our body shall be ashes, and our spirit shall be poured abroad as soft air, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, which is driven away by the beams of the sun, and overpowered with the heat thereof:

⁴ And our name in time shall be forgotten, and no man shall have any remembrance of our works.

⁵ For our time is as the passing of a shadow, and there is no going back of our end: for it is fast sealed, and no man returneth:

⁶ Come, therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are present, and let us speedily use the creatures as in youth.

⁷ Let us fill ourselves with costly wine, and ointments: and let not the flower of the time pass by us.

⁸ Let us crown ourselves with roses, before they be withered: let no meadow escape our riot.

⁹ Let none of us go without his part in luxury: let us every where leave tokens of joy: for this is our portion, and this our lot.

¹⁰ Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor honour the ancient grey hairs of the aged.

¹¹ But let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.

¹² Let us, therefore, lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life.

¹³ He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God.

¹⁴ He is become a censurer of our thoughts.

¹⁵ He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men’s, and his ways are very different.

¹⁶ We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his father.

¹⁷ Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be.

¹⁸ For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies.

¹⁹ Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness, and try his patience.

²⁰ Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.

²¹ These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them.

²² And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls.

²³ For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him.

²⁴ But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world:

²⁵ And they follow him that are of his side.