傳道書 5
1 你往天主的殿裏去時，要小心邁步；你前去聽道，勝過愚人獻祭，因為他們只知作惡。
Guard your step when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.
2 你不要在天主前冒然開口，你的心也不要急於發言應許，因為天主在天上，你在地下，為此你說話應當簡單。
Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
3 因為夜夢由於事務繁雜，亂語出於多言。
For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool's speech with a multitude of words.
4 你一向天主許願，就不可拖延償還，因為他不喜歡人怠慢；你許了願，就應速還；
When you vow a vow to God, do not defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow.
5 不許願好過許而不還。
It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.
6 不要放任你的口，使你陷於罪過，免得你在使者前說是「錯許了。」為何要天主因你這句話而發怒，破壞你手中的工作﹖
Do not allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Do not protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?
7 多夢多虛幻，多言多糊塗；你要敬畏天主。
For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words: but you must fear God.
8 你若在某省看見欺壓窮人，違犯公道和正義的事，不必對此驚奇，因為高者之上還有更高者在上鑒察，而他們之上還有更高者。
If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, do not marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.
9 國家全面的利益，在乎有一位關心農業的君王。
Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.
10 愛錢的，錢不能使他滿足；愛財的，進益不能使他滿足：這也是空虛。
He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.
11 錢財增多，消費的人也隨之增多；財主除飽享眼福外，能有什麼益處﹖
When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?
12 工人不論吃多吃少，總睡得甘甜；飽食的富人，卻難於安眠。
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
13 我看見在太陽下有一件慘痛的事：財主積蓄財富，反而害了自己。
There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
14 生意一次失敗，財產盡失：生了個兒子，手中一無所有。
Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.
15 他赤身出離母胎，也照樣赤身歸去；他勞力之所得，絲毫不能帶去。
As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
16 這也是一件慘痛的事：他怎樣來，也怎樣去；他操勞追風，究有什麼益處；
This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?
17 況且他一生在黑暗中生活，遭受許多煩惱、疾病和悲憤的事。
All his days are in darkness and mourning, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.
18 我所認為幸福美滿的事，是人在天主所賞的少數歲月內，有吃有喝，且享受他在太陽下一切勞碌所得的福樂，這原是他應得的一分。
Look, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.
19 的確，天主賞賜人財產和富裕，叫他能享用；能取得應有的一分，能享受勞碌所得的快樂，實是天主的恩賜。
Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God.
20 那麼，人就不甚顧慮人生歲月的短促，因為天主以喜樂充滿了他的心。
For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life; because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.
