Wisdom of Solomon, 2

1. For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave.

1. Led by mistaken reasons they think, "Life is short and sad and there is no cure for death. It was never heard that anyone came back from the netherworld.

2. For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart:

2. By chance we were born; when life is over, it will be as if we never existed. The breath in our nostrils is like a puff of smoke, and thought is no more than a spark resulting from the movement of the heart.

3. Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air,

3. Put this out and the body turns to ashes, the spirit melts away like idle air.

4. And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof.

4. In time our name will be forgotten, no one will remember what we did.

5. For our time is a very shadow that passeth away; and after our end there is no returning: for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again.

5. Life passes like the shadow of a cloud, disappears like mist chased by the sun and overpowered by its heat. Our days are like the passing of a shadow; from death there is no turning back, the seal is set: no one returns.

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

6. Come then and enjoy all the good things; let us use creation with the zest of youth,

7. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us:

7. making the most of choicest wines and perfumes and not passing by any flower of spring.

8. Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:

8. Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they fade.

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

9. Let everyone take part in our orgy; let us post everywhere the signs of our joy, for that is our due, the lot assigned to us.

10. Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.

10. Let us oppress the upright man who is poor, and have no thought for the widow, or respect for the white hair of old age.

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

11. Let our strength be our right, since it is proved that weakness is useless.

12. Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our education.

12. Let us set a trap for the righteous, for he annoys us and opposes our way of life; he reproaches us for our breaches of the Law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing.

13. He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord.

13. He claims knowledge of God and calls himself son of the Lord.

14. He was made to reprove our thoughts.

14. He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even to meet him is burdensome to us.

15. He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion.

15. He does not live like others and behaves strangely.

16. We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed, and maketh his boast that God is his father.

16. According to him we have low standards, so he keeps aloof from us as if we were unclean. He emphasizes the happy end of the righteous and boasts of having God as father.

17. Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.

17. Let us see the truth of what he says and find out what his end will be.

18. For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.

18. If the righteous is a son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from his adversaries.

19. Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience.

19. Let us humble and torture him to prove his self-control and test his patience.

20. Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.

20. When we have condemned him to a shameful death, we may test his words."

21. Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them.

21. This is the way they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice.

22. As for the mysteries of God, they kn ew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor discerned a reward for blameless souls.

22. They do not know the mysteries of God nor do they hope for the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be recompensed.

23. For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.

23. Indeed God created man to be immortal in the likeness of his own nature,

24. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.

24. but the envy of the devil brought death to the world, and those who take his side shall experience death.