1 By reasoning in their twisted way, the ungodly said: Our lives are short and painful. There is no antidote for death; no one has come back from the grave.
2 All of us came into being by chance. When our lives are over, it will be just as if we had never been. The breath in our nostrils is mere smoke. Reason is just a spark in the beating of our hearts.
3 When that spark is extinguished, the body will be turned into ashes. The spirit will evaporate into thin air.
4 Over time, our names will be forgotten. No one will remember our deeds. Our lives will pass away like the last wisps of a cloud. Our lives will be dispersed like a morning mist chased away by the sun and weighed down by the day’s heat.
5 Our time here is like a shadow passing by. There’s no turning back from death. It has been sealed, and no one will alter it.
6 Come then! Let’s enjoy all the good things of life now. Let’s enjoy creation to the fullest as we did in our youth.