2:1 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.
2:2 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,
2:3 And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes and our spirit will be poured abroad like unresisting air.
2:4 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.
2:5 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.
2:6 Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are real, and use the freshness of creation avidly.
2:7 Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no springtime blossom pass us by;
2:8 let us crown ourselves with rosebuds ere they wither.
2:9 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.
2:1 0Let us oppress the needy just man; let us neither spare the widow nor revere the old man for his hair grown white with time.
2:11 But let our strength be our norm of justice; for weakness proves itself useless.
2:12 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.
2:13 He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD.
2:14 To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us,
2:15 Because his life is not like other men’s, and different are his ways.
2:16 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.
2:17 Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.
2:18 For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
2:19 With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.
2:20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him."
2:21 These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them,
2:22 And they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls' reward.
2:23 For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.
2:24 But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
2:25 and they who are in his possession experience it.