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. 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: 3 which being
extinguished, our body shall be turned to ashes, and our spirit shall vanish
as the soft 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.
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.
6 Come on therefore, let us enjoy the
good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in
youth. 7 Let us fill ourselves with
costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us.
8 Let us crown ourselves with
rosebuds, before they be withered:
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.
10 Let us oppress the poor righteous
man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient grey hairs of the
aged. 11 Let our strength be the law
of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.
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.
13 He professeth to have the
knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord.
14 He was made to reprove our
thoughts. 15 He is grievous unto us
even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another
fashion. 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.
17 Let us see if his words be true:
and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.
18 For if the just man be the son of
God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.
19 Let us examine him with
despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his
patience. 20 Let us condemn him with
a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.
21 Such things they did imagine, and
were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them.
22 As for the mysteries of God, they
knew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor
discerned a reward for blameless souls.
23 For God created man to be
immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.
24 Nevertheless through envy of the
devil came death into the world: and they that are of his side do find it.