Wisdom of Solomon · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Wisdom of Solomon 2 King James Version (with Apocrypha)
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.
1 For 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.
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:
2 Because 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,
3 Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air,
3 which being extinguished, the body will be turned into ashes, and the spirit will be dispersed as thin air.
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.
4 Our 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.
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.
5 For 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 on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth.
6 “Come therefore and let’s enjoy the good things that exist. Let’s use the creation earnestly as in our youth.
7 Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us:
7 Let’s fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, and let no spring flower pass us by.
8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:
8 Let’s crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
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.
9 Let 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.
10 Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.
10 Let’s oppress the righteous poor. Let’s not spare the widow, nor regard the gray hair of the old man.
11 Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.
11 But let our strength be a law of righteousness; for that which is weak is proven useless.
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.
12 But let’s lie in wait for the righteous man, because he annoys us, is contrary to our works, reproaches us with sins against the law, and charges us with sins against our training.
13 He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord.
13 He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.
14 He was made to reprove our thoughts.
14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.
15 He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men’s, his ways are of another fashion.
15 He is grievous to us even to look at, because his life is unlike other men’s, and his paths are strange.
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.
16 We were regarded by him as something worthless, and he abstains from our ways as from uncleanness. He calls the latter end of the righteous happy. He boasts that God is his father.
17 Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.
17 Let’s see if his words are true. Let’s test what will happen at the end of his life.
18 For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.
18 For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him, and he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.
19 Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience.
19 Let’s test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and test his patience.
20 Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.
20 Let’s condemn him to a shameful death, for he will be protected, according to his words.”
21 Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them.
21 Thus they reasoned, and they were led astray; for their wickedness blinded them,
22 As for the mysteries of God, they knew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor discerned a reward for blameless souls.
22 and they didn’t know the mysteries of God, neither did they hope for wages of holiness, nor did they discern that there is a prize for blameless souls.
23 For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.
23 Because God created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own everlastingness;
24 Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
24 but death entered into the world by the envy of the devil, and those who belong to him experience it.
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… is become blind in His faith, neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment, nor acts a part becoming a Christian, but walks after his own wicked lusts, resuming the practice of an unrighteous and ungodly envy, by which death itself entered into the world. Chapter IV — Many evils have already flowed from this source in ancient times For …
For he says, what it was foretold in the book of Wisdom that he should say, "He is grievous unto us, even to behold; for his life is not like other men's." Therefore he "seeks to slay him." What?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
"Let us condemn Him with a most shameful death, for by His own sayings He shall be respected;" for if he is indeed the Son of God, He will deliver Him from the hands of His adversaries: He will not suffer His Son to die, if He is truly His Son.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… saith, "Behold there cometh the Prince of the world," being an acute observer of all sins; "Behold," He saith, "there cometh the Prince of this world," with death afflicting sinners, presiding over death: for, "By the malice of the devil death came into the world." "Behold," He saith, "there cometh the Prince of the world:"--He said these words close upon …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)