Home Master Index
←Prev   Wisdom 2 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


2:1  For, not thinking rightly, they said among themselves: “Brief and troubled is our lifetime; there is no remedy for our dying, nor is anyone known to have come back from Hades.
2:2  For by mere chance were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been; Because the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason a spark from the beating of our hearts,
2:3  And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes and our spirit will be poured abroad like empty air.
2:4  Even our name will be forgotten in time, and no one will recall our deeds. So our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud, and will be dispersed like a mist Pursued by the sun’s rays and overpowered by its heat.
2:5  For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow; and our dying cannot be deferred because it is fixed with a seal; and no one returns.
2:6  Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are here, and make use of creation with youthful zest.
2:7  Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no springtime blossom pass us by;
2:8  let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
2:9  Let no meadow be free from our wantonness; everywhere let us leave tokens of our merriment, for this is our portion, and this our lot.
2:10  Let us oppress the righteous poor; let us neither spare the widow nor revere the aged for hair grown white with time.
2:11  But let our strength be our norm of righteousness; for weakness proves itself useless.
2:12  Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us; he opposes our actions, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training.
2:13  He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord.
2:14  To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us,
2:15  Because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways.
2:16  He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the righteous and boasts that God is his Father.
2:17  Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him in the end.
2:18  For if the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
2:19  With violence and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.
2:20  Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”
2:21  These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them,
2:22  And they did not know the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense for holiness nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.
2:23  For God formed us to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made us.
2:24  But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are allied with him experience it.