8. Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:
9. Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry: Everywhere let us leave tokens of our mirth: Because this is our portion, and our lot is this.
10. Let us oppress the righteous poor; Let us not spare the widow, Nor reverence the hairs of the old man gray for length of years.
11. But let our strength be to us a law of righteousness; For that which is weak is found to be of no service.
12. But let us lie in wait for the righteous man, Because he is of disservice to us, And is contrary to our works, And upbraids us with sins against the law, And lays to our charge sins against our discipline.
13. He professes to have knowledge of God, And names himself servant of the Lord.
14. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.
15. He is grievous to us even to behold, Because his life is unlike other men’s, And his paths are of strange fashion.
16. We were accounted of him as base metal, And he abstains from our ways as from uncleannesses. The latter end of the righteous he calls happy; And he vaunts that God is his father.
17. Let us see if his words be true, And let us try what shall befall in the ending of his life.
18. For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him, And he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.
19. With outrage and torture let us put him to the test, That we may learn his gentleness, And may prove his patience under wrong.