Wisdom 2 - New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Chapter 2

¹ For, not thinking rightly, they said among themselves:^[a]
“Brief and troubled is our lifetime;^(A)
there is no remedy for our dying,
nor is anyone known to have come back from Hades.
² For by mere chance were we born,
and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been;
Because the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
and reason a spark from the beating of our hearts,
³ And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes
and our spirit will be poured abroad like empty air.^(B)
4 Even our name will be forgotten in time,
and no one will recall our deeds.
So our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,
and will be dispersed like a mist
Pursued by the sun’s rays
and overpowered by its heat.
⁵ For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow;
and our dying cannot be deferred
because it is fixed with a seal; and no one returns.^(C)
6 Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are here,
and make use of creation with youthful zest.^(D)
7 Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
and let no springtime blossom pass us by;
⁸ let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
⁹ Let no meadow be free from our wantonness;
everywhere let us leave tokens of our merriment,
for this is our portion, and this our lot.^(E)
10 Let us oppress the righteous poor;
let us neither spare the widow
nor revere the aged for hair grown white with time.^(F)
11 But let our strength be our norm of righteousness;
for weakness proves itself useless.

^{12 [b]}Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us;
he opposes our actions,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law^[c]
and charges us with violations of our training.^(G)
13 He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the Lord.^(H)
14 To us he is the censure of our thoughts;
merely to see him is a hardship for us,^(I)
15 Because his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.
¹⁶ He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the righteous
and boasts that God is his Father.^(J)

¹⁷ Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him in the end.^(K)
18 For if the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.^(L)
19 With violence and torture let us put him to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
²⁰ Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”^(M)

²¹ These were their thoughts, but they erred;
for their wickedness blinded them,^{(N)
22 [d]}And they did not know the hidden counsels of God;
neither did they count on a recompense for holiness
nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.^(O)
23 For God formed us to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made us.^(P)
24 But by the envy^[e] of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who are allied with him experience it.^(Q)

Footnotes

1. 2:1–20 In this speech the wicked deny survival after death and indeed invite death by their evil deeds.
2. 2:12–5:23 From 2:12 to 5:23 the author draws heavily on Is 52–62, setting forth his teaching in a series of characters or types taken from Isaiah and embellished with additional details from other texts. The description of the “righteous one” in 2:12–20 seems to undergird the New Testament passion narrative.
3. 2:12 Law: the law of Moses; “training” has the same meaning.
4. 2:22 This verse announces the subject of the next section.
5. 2:24 Envy: perhaps because Adam was in the image of God or because Adam had control over all creation. Devil: the first biblical text to equate the serpent of Gn 3 with the devil.

Cross references

1. 2:1 : Jb 14:1; 7:9.
2. 2:3 : Jb 7:9; Jas 4:14.
3. 2:5 : Ps 144:4.
4. 2:6 : Is 22:13; 1 Cor 15:32.
5. 2:9 : Jer 13:25.
6. 2:10 : Ex 22:21–23; Lv 19:32.
7. 2:12 : Hos 8:1.
8. 2:13 : Mt 27:43; Jn 8:55; 10:36–39.
9. 2:14 : Mt 9:4.
10. 2:16 : Jer 6:30.
11. 2:17 : Gn 37:20.
12. 2:18 : Ps 22:9; Is 42:1; Mt 27:43; Jn 5:18.
13. 2:20 : Jas 5:6.
14. 2:21 : Rom 1:21.
15. 2:22 : Ps 18:24–25; Prv 11:18; Mt 11:25.
16. 2:23 : Gn 1:26–27; Is 54:16 LXX.
17. 2:24 : Gn 3:1–24; Rom 5:12.