Wis 2:1 

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. 

Wis 2:2 

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: 

Wis 2:3 

Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into 

ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air, 

Wis 2:4 

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. 

Wis 2:5 

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. 

Wis 2:6 

Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are 

present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth. 

Wis 2:7 

Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let 

no flower of the spring pass by us: 

Wis 2:8 

Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be 

withered: 

Wis 2:9 

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. 

Wis 2:10 

Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the 

widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged. 

Wis 2:11 

Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is 

feeble is found to be nothing worth. 

Wis 2:12 

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. 

Wis 2:13 

He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth 

himself the child of the Lord. 

Wis 2:14 

He was made to reprove our thoughts. 

Wis 2:15 

He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not 

like other men's, his ways are of another fashion. 

Wis 2:16 

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. 

Wis 2:17 

Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall 

happen in the end of him. 

Wis 2:18 

For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and 

deliver him from the hand of his enemies. 

Wis 2:19 

Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we 

may know his meekness, and prove his patience. 

Wis 2:20 

Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own 

saying he shall be respected. 

Wis 2:21 

Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their 

own wickedness hath blinded them. 

Wis 2:22 

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. 

Wis 2:23 

For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an 

image of his own eternity. 

Wis 2:24 

Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the 

world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.