BOOK OF WISDOM 2

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.

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. And when this is quenched our body will be ashes and our spirit will be poured abroad like empty air.


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 sunā€™s rays
and overpowered by its heat
For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow.

Land our dying cannot be deferred
because it is fixed with a seal and no one returns.

With violence and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience
Let us condemn him to a shameful death for according to his own words God will take care of him.


Come therefore let us enjoy the good things that are here and make use of creation with youthful zest.


Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes and let no springtime blossom pass us by let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.

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.

Let us oppress the righteous poor
let us neither spare the widow
nor revere the aged for hair grown white with time


But let our strength be our norm of righteousness for weakness proves itself useless

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

He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the LORD
To us he is the censure of our thoughts
merely to see him is a hardship for us
Because his life is not like that of others
and different are his ways

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.

Let us see whether his words be true
let us find out what will happen to him in the end.

For if the righteous one is the son of God God will help him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.


These were their thoughts but they erred for their wickedness blinded them. 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

For God formed us to be imperishable
the image of his own nature he made us
But by the envy of the devil death entered the world
and they who are allied with him experience it