Wisdom 2

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	KING JAMES BIBLE
1 they who said among themselves, thinking not aright: "Brief and troublous is our lifetime; neither is there any remedy for man's dying, nor is anyone known to have come back from the nether world.	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 haphazard were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been; Because the breath in our nostrils is a smoke and reason is a spark at the beating of our hearts,	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 And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes and our spirit will be poured abroad like unresisting air.	3 Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air,
4 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 sun's rays and overpowered by its heat.	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 lifetime is the passing of a shadow; and our dying cannot be deferred because it is fixed with a seal; and no one returns.	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, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are real, and use the freshness of creation avidly.	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 have our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no springtime blossom pass us by;	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 ere they wither.	8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:
9 Let no meadow be free from our wantonness; everywhere let us leave tokens of our rejoicing, for this our portion is, and this our lot.	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 needy just man; let us neither spare the widow nor revere the old man for his hair grown white with time.	10 Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.
11 But let our strength be our norm of justice; for weakness proves itself useless.	11 Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.
12 Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training.	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 professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD.	13 He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord.
14 To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us,	14 He was made to reprove our thoughts.
15 Because his life is not like other men's, and different are his ways.	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 He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father.	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 whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.	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 one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.	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 With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.	19 Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him."	20 Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.
21 These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them,	21 Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them.
22 And they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls' reward.	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.
23 For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.	23 For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.
24 But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.	24 Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.