Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
To look up a word in a dictionary, select the word with your mouse and press 'd' on your keyboard.
Wicked Thinking
1 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.
5 Our time
on earth is like a passing shadow.
There is no escape from the day of
our death; it is fixed, and no one can
postpone it.
6 The wicked say, “Come on,
then, let's enjoy the good things of
life, and live in this world the way
we did when we were young and
free of care! note
7 Let's drink the most
expensive wines and use the finest
perfumes. Let's not miss a single
flower in the springtime!
8 Before the
roses wither, let's pick them and
wear them in our hair!
9 Let's all join
in and leave signs everywhere of our
carefree revelry! Life owes us that
much!
10 “We'll oppress the poor, even if
they are righteous. We'll show no respect
for widows or old people.
11 We'll call ourselves right if we are
strong enough to get what we want.
No one ever got anywhere by being
weak!
12 Righteous people are nothing
but a nuisance, so let's look for
chances to get rid of them. They are
against what we do; they accuse us
of breaking the Law of Moses and
violating the traditions of our ancestors.
13 They claim to know God, and
they call themselves the Lord's children.
14 We can't stand the sight of
people like that; what they are
contradicts our whole way of thinking.
15 They are not like other people;
they have strange ways.
16 They
think that our moral standards are
so corrupt that everything we do
should be avoided. They boast of
having God for their Father, and believe
that when all is said and done,
only the righteous will be happy.
17 But we'll see if that's true! Let's
see what will happen when it's time
for them to die!
18 If the righteous
really are God's children, God will
save them from their enemies.
19 So
let's put them to the test. We'll be
cruel to them, and torment them;
then we'll find out how calm and
reasonable they are! We'll find out
just how much they can stand!
20 We'll condemn them to a shameful
death. After all, they say that God
will protect them.”
-- --
21 That is how evil people think,
but they are wrong. They are blinded
by their own wickedness.
22 They
have never known God's secrets,
never hoped for the rewards of a
holy and blameless life.
23 When God
created us, he did not intend for us
to die; he made us like himself. note
24 It
was the Devil's jealousy that
brought death into the world, and
those who belong to the Devil are
the ones who will die.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
|