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。
Look well to thy feet, when thou goest to the house of God, and draw nigh to hear, rather than to offer sacrifice as fools. For they consider not 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。
Be not hasty with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be swift to utter any thing before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words be few.
3 因為夜夢由於事務繁雜，亂語出於多言。
For a dream cometh with much bustle, and a fool's voice 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 thou vowest a vow to God, delay not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed.
5 不許願好過許而不還。
Better is it that thou shouldst not vow than that thou shouldst 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﹖
Suffer not thy mouth to bring punishment on thy flesh, and say not before the angel, “It was a mistake.” Wherefore should God be angry on account of thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?
7 多夢多虛幻，多言多糊塗；你要敬畏天主。
For in a multitude of dreams is a multitude of vanities; so also in a multitude of words; but fear thou 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 thou seest oppression of the poor, and justice and equity perverted in a province, be not alarmed at the matter. For over the high there is a higher, who watcheth, and there is one higher than they all.
9 國家全面的利益，在乎有一位關心農業的君王。
An advantage to a land in all respects is a king over cultivated ground.
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 that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; and he that loveth riches shall have no profit from them. 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, they are increased that eat them; and what advantage hath the owner thereof, save the beholding of 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。
Sweet is the sleep of a laboring man, whether he have eaten little or much; but the repletion of the rich will not suffer 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 sore evil which I have seen under the sun, — riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt.
14 生意一次失敗，財產盡失：生了個兒子，手中一無所有。
For those riches perish by some calamity, and, if he have 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, so shall he go away again, as he came, and shall take away nothing of his labor which he may carry 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 is also a sore evil, that, in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit is there to him who toileth for 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。
Also all his days he ate in darkness, and had much grief and anxiety and vexation.
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。
Behold, what I have seen is, that it is good and proper for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor which he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him; for it 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。
To whatever man also God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him to enjoy them, 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 will not much remember the days of his life; for God answereth him with the joy of his heart.
