| 1 | For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, “Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. |
| 2 | For we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been, for the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts; |
| 3 | when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty 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. |
| 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. |
| 6 | “Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist, and make use of the creation to the full as in youth. |
| 7 | Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no flower of spring pass us by. |
| 8 | Let us 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. |
| 10 | Let us oppress the righteous poor man; let us not spare the widow or regard the gray hairs of the aged. |
| 11 | But let our might be our law of right, for what is weak proves itself to be useless. |
| 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. |
| 13 | He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. |
| 14 | He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 17 | Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; |
| 18 | for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. |
| 19 | Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. |
| 20 | Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.” |
| 21 | Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, |
| 22 | and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls; |
| 23 | for God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity, |
| 24 | but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it. |
