1 For the wicked, reasoning with themselves, but not rightly said,
“Our life is short and tedious,
And of the death of a man there is no healing;
Neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave.
2 “For we are all born by chance,
And after this we shall be as though we had never been;
For the breath of our nostrils is as smoke,
And a little spark in the moving of our heart;
3 Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes,
And our spirit shall vanish as the soft air.
4 “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 dispersed as a mist,
That is driven away with the rays of the sun,
And overcome by its heat.
5 “For our time is but a shadow that passes away;
And after our end there is no returning:
For it is sealed up so that no man comes again.
6 “Come therefore, let us enjoy the good that is found,
And let us hasten to use the creation as in youth.
7 “Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments,
And let no flower of the spring pass by us.
8 “Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they wither.
9 “Let none of us go without his part of our luxuries;
Let us leave signs of our joy in every place,
For this is our portion, and this is our lot.
10 “Let us oppress the poor, righteous man;
Let us not spare the widow,
Nor regard the old grey hairs of the aged.
11 “Let our strength be the law of righteousness,
For that which is feeble is found to be worthless.
12 “Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous;
For he is not for our way, and he is clearly opposed to our actions;
He reproaches us with our guilt of the Law,
And to our shame, accuses of the sins against our teaching.
13 “He professes to have the knowledge of Elohim,
And calls himself the child of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄!
14 “He has become a reproof to our thoughts.
15 “He is a burden to us to even look at,
For his life is not like other men,
His ways are a different way.
16 “We are regarded by him as false,
He abstains from our ways as from filthiness,
He pronounces the end of the righteous to be baruḵ,
And makes his boast that Elohim is his Father!
17 “Let us see if his words are true,
And let us prove what shall befall him in the end.
18 “For if the righteous man is the son of Elohim,
He shall help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.
19 “Let us try him with mocking and torture,
So that we may know his humility,
And prove his patience.
20 “Let us condemn him with a shameful death;
For by his own words, he shall be favoured.”
21 Such as these they devised, and were deceived;
For their own wickedness has blinded them.
22 As for the secrets of Elohim, they did not know them;
Neither did they expect the wages of righteousness,
Nor discern a reward for blameless lives.
23 For Elohim created man to be immortal,
And made him to be an image of His own immortality.
24 Nevertheless death came into the world through envy of the devil,
And those who hold to His side find it.