| 2 | Wisdom of Solomon | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, "Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a man comes to his end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. | Wiched thinking. Wis.2.1-24 | ||
| Because we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we shall 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 hearts. | |||
| When it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air. | |||
| Our name will be forgotten in time and no one will remember our works; our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud, and be scattered like mist that is chased by the rays of the sun and overcome by its heat. | |||
| For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and there is no return from our death, because it is sealed up and no one turns back. | |||
| "Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist, and make use of the creation to the full as in youth. | |||
| Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no flower of spring pass by us. | |||
| Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. | |||
| Let none of us fail to share in our revelry, everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment, because this is our portion, and this our lot. | |||
| Let us oppress the righteous poor man; let us not spare the widow nor regard the gray hairs of the aged. | |||
| But let our might be our law of right, for what is weak proves itself to be useless. | |||
| "Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. | |||
| He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. | |||
| He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, | |||
| because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. | |||
| We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. | |||
| Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; | |||
| for if the righteous man is God's son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. | |||
| Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. | |||
| Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected." | |||
| Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, | |||
| and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls; | |||
| for God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity, | |||
| but through the devil's envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it. | |||
| << | Wisdom of Solomon: 2 | >> |