Wisdom of Solomon 2

1 The ungodly reasoned incorrectly among themselves and said, “Our life is short and painful. There is no remedy when a person dies, and no one is known to have returned from Hades. 2 We were born by chance, and after this we will be as though we had never existed. The breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark in the beating of our hearts. 3 When it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will disperse like thin air. 4 Our name will be forgotten in time, and no one will remember our works. Our life will pass away like the trace of a cloud and scatter like mist driven away by the sun’s rays and overcome by its heat. 5 Our time is the passing of a shadow, and there is no return after our end. It is sealed, and no one comes back.

6 Come, then, let us enjoy the good things at hand and make eager use of creation while we are young. 7 Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, and let no spring flower pass us by. 8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. 9 Let none of us miss our arrogant revelry. Let us leave signs of our enjoyment everywhere, because this is our portion and this is our lot.

10 Let us oppress the poor righteous person. Let us not spare the widow or revere the gray hair of the aged. 11 Let our strength be the law of righteousness, because weakness proves worthless. 12 Let us lie in wait for the righteous person, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions. He reproaches us for sins against the law and accuses us of violating the instruction we received. † 13 He claims to have knowledge of God and calls himself a servant of the Lord. 14 He has become a rebuke to our thoughts and is burdensome to us even to look at. 15 His life is unlike that of others, and his paths are completely different. 16 He regards us as counterfeit and avoids our ways as unclean. He calls the end of the righteous blessed and boasts that God is his father.

17 Let us see whether his words are true and test what will happen at the end of his life. 18 If the righteous man is a son of God, God will help him and rescue him from the hand of his enemies. 19 Let us subject him to insult and torture so that we may know his gentleness and test his endurance. 20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death, because according to his own words there will be a time of reckoning for him.”

21 These were their thoughts, but they were deceived, because their own evil blinded them. 22 They did not know God’s secrets, hope for the reward of holiness, or discern the honor given to blameless souls. 23 God created humanity for imperishability and made it as an image of his own everlasting nature. 24 But through the envy of the Accuser, death entered the world, and those who belong to his side experience it. [a]