傳道書 6
1 我看見在太陽下，另有一種不幸，重壓在人身上：
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavy on men.
2 有一人，天主賜他富裕、錢財、光榮；凡他心中所願意的，一件也不缺；但天主沒有讓他享用這一切，卻讓外人享用了：這也是空虛，是一件很悲慘的事。
God might give riches, wealth, and honor to a man so that he lacks nothing that he desires for himself, but then God gives him no ability to enjoy it. Instead, someone else uses his things. This is vapor, an evil affliction.
3 有一人生有百子，活了很大歲數，他年紀雖高，卻沒有隨心享受福樂，且未得安葬，照我看來，他還不如流產的胎兒。
If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but if his heart is not satisfied with good and he is not buried, then I say that a baby that is born dead is better off than he is.
4 流產的胎兒徒然而來，悄然而去，他的名字也湮沒無聞；
Even such a baby is born in futility and passes away in darkness, and its name remains hidden.
5 他沒有見過天日，也沒有任何知覺，但他總比那人更享安寧。
Although this child does not see the sun or know anything, it has rest even though that man did not.
6 那人即便活了兩千歲，如未享受福樂，他們二人豈不是同歸一處﹖
Even if a man should live for two thousand years but does not learn to enjoy good things, he goes to the same place as everyone else.
7 人的一切勞碌都是為了口腹，但他的慾望卻總不知滿足。
All a man's work is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
8 智者較愚者究有什麼利益﹖知道如何與人往來的窮人，能得什麼好處﹖
Indeed, what advantage has the wise person over the fool? What advantage does the poor man have even if he knows how to act in front of other people?
9 眼看見過的總勝過心所想望的：這也是空虛，也是追風。
It is better to be satisfied with what the eyes see than to desire what a wandering appetite craves, which is also vapor and an attempt to shepherd the wind.
10 已往所有的，都已有名可稱；人為何物，都已知道；人決不能與強於自己的抗辯。
Whatever has existed has already been given its name, and what mankind is like has already been known. So it has become useless to dispute with the one who is the mighty judge of all.
11 說話多，必多空談：這對人能有什麼益處﹖
The more words that are spoken, the more futility increases, so what advantage is that to a man?
12 在空虛，消逝如影的人生少數歲月內，有誰知道什麼事對人有益﹖又有誰能指給人指示，他身後在太陽下要發生什麼事﹖
For who knows what is good for man in his life during his futile, numbered days through which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come under the sun after he passes?
