Wisdom 2

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition	NEW JERUSALEM
1 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.	1 And this is the false argument they use, 'Our life is short and dreary, there is no remedy when our endcomes, no one is known to have come back from Hades.
2 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.	2 We came into being by chance and afterwards shal be as though we had never been. The breath in ournostrils is a puff of smoke, reason a spark from the beating of our hearts;
3 When it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.	3 extinguish this and the body turns to ashes, and the spirit melts away like the yielding air.
4 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.	4 In time, our name wil be forgotten, nobody wil remember what we have done; our life will pass awaylike wisps of cloud, dissolving like the mist that the sun's rays drive away and that its heat dispels.
5 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.	5 For our days are the passing of a shadow, our end is without return, the seal is affixed and nobodycomes back.
6 "Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist, and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.	6 'Come then, let us enjoy the good things of today, let us use created things with the zest of youth:
7 Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no flower of spring pass by us.	7 take our fil of the dearest wines and perfumes, on no account forgo the flowers of spring
8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.	8 but crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither,
9 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.	9 no meadow excluded from our orgy; let us leave the signs of our revelry everywhere, since this is ourportion, this our lot!
10 Let us oppress the righteous poor man; let us not spare the widow nor regard the gray hairs of the aged.	10 'As for the upright man who is poor, let us oppress him; let us not spare the widow, nor respect oldage, white-haired with many years.
11 But let our might be our law of right, for what is weak proves itself to be useless.	11 Let our might be the yardstick of right, since weakness argues its own futility.
12 "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.	12 Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us forour sins against the Law, and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.
13 He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.	13 He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.
14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;	14 We see him as a reproof to our way of thinking, the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;
15 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.	15 for his kind of life is not like other people's, and his ways are quite different.
16 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.	16 In his opinion we are counterfeit; he avoids our ways as he would filth; he proclaims the final end of theupright as blessed and boasts of having God for his father.
17 Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;	17 Let us see if what he says is true, and test him to see what sort of end he wil have.
18 for if the righteous man is God's son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.	18 For if the upright man is God's son, God wil help him and rescue him from the clutches of hisenemies.
19 Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance.	19 Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put hispatience to the test.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected."	20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death since God wil rescue him -- or so he claims.'
21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them,	21 This is the way they reason, but they are misled, since their malice makes them blind.
22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls;	22 They do not know the hidden things of God, they do not hope for the reward of holiness, they do notbelieve in a reward for blameless souls.
23 for God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity,	23 For God created human beings to be immortal, he made them as an image of his own nature;
24 but through the devil's envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it.	24 Death came into the world only through the Devil's envy, as those who belong to him find to their cost.