THE WICKED SAITH IN HIS HEART
FOR they said within themselves, reasoning not aright,
‘Short and sorrowful is our life;
And there is no healing when a man cometh to his end,
And none was ever known that returned out of Hades.
Because by mere chance were we born,
And hereafter we shall be as though we had never been:
And our name shall be forgotten in time,
And no man shall remember our works;
And our life shall pass away as the traces of a cloud,
And shall be scattered as is a mist.
For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,
And there is no putting back of our end.
Come therefore and let us enjoy the good things that now are;
And let us use the creation with all our soul as youth’s possession.
Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes;
And let no flower of spring pass us by:
Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:
Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry:
Everywhere let us leave tokens of our mirth:
Because this is our portion, and our lot is this.
Let our strength be to us a law of righteousness;
For that which is weak is convicted to be of no service.’
Thus reasoned they, and they were led astray;
For their wickedness blinded them,
And they knew not the mysteries of God,
Neither hoped they for wages of holiness,
Nor did they judge that there is a prize for blameless souls.
Because God created man for incorruption,
And made him an image of His own everlastingness.
WISDOM OF SOLOMON 2. 1, 2, 4–9, 11, 21–3.