Wisdom 2:1–9
1For they said within themselves, with unsound reasoning, “Our life is short and sorrowful. There is no healing when a man comes to his end, and no one was ever known who was released from Hades.↗
2Because we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we will 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 heart,↗
3which being extinguished, the body will be turned into ashes, and the spirit will be dispersed as thin air.↗
4Our name will be forgotten in time. No one will remember our works. Our life will pass away as the traces of a cloud, and will be scattered as is a mist, when it is chased by the rays of the sun, and overcome by its heat.↗
5For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and our end doesn’t retreat, because it is securely sealed, and no one turns it back.↗
6“Come therefore and let’s enjoy the good things that exist. Let’s use the creation earnestly as in our youth.↗
7Let’s fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, and let no spring flower pass us by.↗
8Let’s crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.↗
9Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry. Let’s leave tokens of mirth everywhere, because this is our portion, and this is our lot.↗
Source: World English Bible (Catholic), public domain. Text is taken directly from the source. Headings are editorial, not biblical verses.
Languages: English public-domain source is available throughout all 73 books. Slovenian and German Scripture editions will be published only after their precise source texts are verified; we do not substitute machine-written translations.