Enjoy This Life

Ben Sira 14:11–19

ca. 180–132 BCE

¹¹My child, treat yourself well, according to your means,

and present worthy offerings to the Lord.

¹²Remember that death does not tarry,

and the decree of Hades has not been shown to you.

¹³Do good to friends before you die,

and reach out and give to them as much as you can.

¹⁴Do not deprive yourself of a day’s enjoyment;

do not let your share of desired good pass by you.

¹⁵Will you not leave the fruit of your labors to another,

and what you acquired by toil to be divided by lot?

¹⁶Give, and take, and indulge yourself,

because in Hades one cannot look for luxury.

¹⁷All living beings become old like a garment,

for the decree from of old is, “You must die!”

¹⁸Like abundant leaves on a spreading tree

that sheds some and puts forth others,

so are the generations of flesh and blood:

one dies and another is born.

¹⁹Every work decays and ceases to exist,

and the one who made it will pass away with it.

Translation from the New Revised Standard Version.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.