Wisdom of Solomon 2

The ungodly said to themselves, reasoning wrongly: "Our life is short and full of trouble, and when a person dies there is no cure for it. No one has ever been known to come back from the grave.

1For 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.

NoteThe speech that begins here runs all the way to the end of verse 20; the writer is reporting how "the ungodly" reason, not speaking in his own voice, and he breaks in again only at verse 21. "The grave" translates Hades, the Greek name for the underworld where all the dead were held, good and bad alike, and from which no one came back.

2We were born by pure chance, and afterward we will be as though we had never existed. The breath in our noses is like smoke, and a little spark stirred by the beating of our heart.

2For 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:

Note"Born at all adventure" is 1611 English for born at random, by pure chance, with no purpose behind it; "adventure" then meant chance or hazard, not excitement. The second half reflects ancient medical thinking, in which breath was the life principle and thought was a small fire or spark kept alight by the beating of the heart. On that view, when the heart stops the spark goes out and nothing survives.

3When that spark is put out, our body will turn into ashes, and our spirit will drift away like thin air.

3Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air,

NoteThe Greek word for "spirit" also means breath and wind, so the image is exact rather than poetic: what leaves the body is a puff of air that thins out and disperses.

4Our name will be forgotten as time passes, and no one will keep our deeds in mind. Our life will pass away like the last trace of a cloud. It will be scattered like mist that is chased off by the rays of the sun and beaten down by its heat.

4And 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.

5Our time here is only a passing shadow, and after our end there is no coming back. It is sealed tight, so that no one returns.

5For 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.

Note"Fast sealed" means sealed shut tight. A sealed document or a sealed tomb was closed with wax or clay stamped with a signet, and breaking the seal without authority was a crime. The point is that death is locked and stamped, and no one can open it from the inside.

6So come on, let us enjoy the good things that are here now. Let us make eager use of created things, as we did when we were young.

6Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth.

Note"Creatures" in 1611 meant created things of every kind, not animals. The speakers mean the whole world of things available to be consumed.

7Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, and let no flower of the spring pass us by.

7Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us:

Note"Ointments" are perfumed oils. At a banquet guests had scented oil poured over the head and rubbed into the skin; it was expensive, and using it freely was a display of wealth.

8Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.

8Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:

NoteGuests at Greek and Roman banquets wore garlands of flowers on their heads. Rosebuds were chosen because they were costly and short lived, which is exactly the point the speakers are making: use them before they wilt.

9Let none of us go without his share of our wild pleasure. Let us leave signs of our good times in every place, for this is our portion, and this is our lot.

9Let 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.

Note"Portion" and "lot" are inheritance words. A portion was the share of family property assigned to a person, and a lot was land allotted by casting lots. The speakers are saying that this round of pleasure is the entire inheritance a human being gets.

10Let us crush the poor man who does what is right. Let us not spare the widow, and let us show no respect for the gray hair of the old.

10Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.

NoteThe poor man, the widow and the old are the three groups the law of Israel singled out for protection, because each lacked anyone to defend them in court. Gray hair in particular carried a legal claim to be stood up for and deferred to. Choosing precisely these victims is a deliberate inversion of the law, not random cruelty.

11Let our own strength be the law of what is right, for whatever is weak is shown to be worth nothing.

11Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.

12So let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is no use to us and is completely against the things we do. He blames us for breaking the law, and he charges us, to our shame, with sinning against the way we were brought up.

12Therefore 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.

Note"He is not for our turn" is an old idiom meaning he is no use to us, he does not serve our purpose; the Greek word behind it means inconvenient or irritating. "Objecteth to our infamy" means brings up against us, to our disgrace. "Our education" does not mean schooling: the Greek word covers the whole upbringing and moral training a child received, so the charge is that they are betraying the way they were raised.

13He claims to have knowledge of God, and he calls himself a child of the Lord.

13He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord.

NoteThe Greek word behind "child" here, pais, means both child and servant, and the phrase can be heard either way. Readers ancient and modern have connected it with the suffering servant of Isaiah.

14He has become a rebuke to the very thoughts we think.

14He was made to reprove our thoughts.

15He is a burden to us even to look at, because his life is not like other men's lives, and his ways are of a different kind.

15He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men’s, his ways are of another fashion.

Note"Fashion" in 1611 meant kind, shape or manner, nothing to do with clothing style. The Greek says his paths are strange, out of the ordinary run of things.

16He counts us as counterfeit. He keeps away from our ways as if they were filth. He calls the end of the righteous happy, and he boasts that God is his father.

16We 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.

Note"Counterfeits" translates a word used of debased or false coinage, metal that fails the test and is thrown out as worthless. The complaint is that the righteous man treats them as a merchant treats bad money.

17Let us see whether his words are true. Let us test what will happen when his life comes to an end.

17Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.

18For if the righteous man is the son of God, God will help him and rescue him from the hand of his enemies.

18For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.

19Let us examine him with insults and torture, so that we may learn how gentle he is and find out how much he can endure.

19Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience.

Note"Despitefulness" means contemptuous abuse, insult meant to humiliate. "Meekness" and "patience" here are not passivity: the Greek words mean forbearance, the refusal to hit back, and the capacity to hold up under deliberate ill treatment. The speakers propose torture as an experiment to see whether these qualities are real.

20Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for by his own words he will be watched over."

20Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.

Note"He shall be respected" does not carry the modern sense of esteem. The Greek verb means to look upon someone with care, to visit and watch over, and it is what the speakers expect God to do for the righteous man if the claim is true. The shameful death is a public execution, the kind that disgraced the victim as well as killing him.

21Such things they imagined, and they were led astray, for their own wickedness had blinded them.

21Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness hath blinded them.

22They did not know the hidden things of God. They did not hope for the wages that come with righteousness, and they saw no reward waiting for blameless souls.

22As 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.

NoteA "mystery" in Greek was not something baffling but a secret, specifically one disclosed only to those initiated into it. "Wages" translates the ordinary word for a laborer's pay, and "reward" a word for the prize given to a winner, so the two images are a worker's earnings and a victor's trophy.

23For God created man to live forever, and made him an image of his own eternal being.

23For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.

Note"Immortal" renders a word meaning incorruption, not decaying or falling apart, rather than simple endless duration. The manuscripts differ in the second half: some read "his own eternity" and others "his own nature" or proper being, two Greek words that differ by a single letter. Both readings are ancient and the choice between them is unsettled.

24But death came into the world through the envy of the devil, and those who are on his side find it.

24Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.

Note"Devil" translates diabolos, which in Greek means slanderer or accuser. "They that do hold of his side" is an old expression for belonging to someone's party or faction; the Greek says those who are his portion, or who belong to him, are the ones who experience death.