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Wisdom 2:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Wisdom 2:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 2
1 These people said to themselves with deluded reasoning:
“Brief and burdensome is our life,
and there is no remedy when death summons,
nor has anyone been known to have returned[a] from the netherworld.
2 For we were born as the result of happenstance,
and afterward we shall be as though we had never existed.
The breath in our nostrils is merely a puff of smoke,
and our reason is a spark enkindled by the beating of our hearts.
3 Once it is extinguished, our body will turn to ashes,
and our spirit will melt away like empty air.
Footnotes
- Wisdom 2:1 Known to have returned: another translation is: “known to have been delivered.” The author places on the lips of fools an entire philosophy of life: the little time allotted to humans on earth must be used in enjoyment because there is no hereafter. This theme is also found in Job 7:1-10; Ps 39:5-14; Lk 12:16-21; 1 Cor 15:32.