Wisdom 2:1-4

Good News Translation

2 Wicked people are wrong when they say to themselves,
    Our life is short and full of sorrow, and when its end comes, there is no escape. No one has ever been known to come back from the world of the dead. ² We were born by chance, and after life is over, we will be as if we had never been born at all. Our breath is no more than a puff of smoke; our mind is nothing more than a spark thrown off by the beating of our heart. ³ When that spark dies, our body will crumble into ashes, and our breath will become part of the empty air. ⁴ In time, no one will remember anything we ever did, and even our names will be forgotten. Our lives will pass away like the traces of clouds and vanish like fog in the heat of the sun.