传道书 8
1 谁如智慧人呢？ 谁知道事情的解释呢？ 人的智慧使他的脸发光， 并使他脸上的暴气改变。
Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.
2 我劝你遵守王的命令；既指 神起誓，理当如此。
Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.
3 不要急躁离开王的面前，不要固执行恶，因为他凡事都随自己的心意而行。
Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
4 王的话本有权力，谁敢问他说“你做什么”呢？
For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 凡遵守命令的，必不经历祸患；智慧人的心能辨明时候和定理。
Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
6 各样事务成就都有时候和定理，因为人的苦难重压在他身上。
For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
7 他不知道将来的事，因为将来如何，谁能告诉他呢？
Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
8 无人有权力掌管生命，将生命留住；也无人有权力掌管死期；这场争战，无人能免；邪恶也不能救那好行邪恶的人。
As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9 这一切我都见过，也专心查考日光之下所做的一切事。有时这人管辖那人，令人受害。
All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.
10 我见恶人埋葬，归入坟墓；又见行正直事的离开圣地，在城中被人忘记。这也是虚空。
Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.
11 因为断定罪名不立刻施刑，所以世人满心作恶。
When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
12 罪人虽然作恶百次，倒享长久的年日；然而我准知道，敬畏 神的，就是在他面前敬畏的人，终久必得福乐。
Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.
13 恶人却不得福乐，也不得长久的年日；这年日好像影儿，因他不敬畏 神。
Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 世上有一件虚空的事，就是义人所遭遇的，反照恶人所行的；又有恶人所遭遇的，反照义人所行的。我说，这也是虚空。
There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.
15 我就称赞快乐，原来人在日光之下，莫强如吃喝快乐；因为他在日光之下， 神赐他一生的年日，要从劳碌中，时常享受所得的。
So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
16 我专心求智慧，要看世上所做的事。（有昼夜不睡觉不合眼的。）
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—
17 我就看明 神一切的作为，知道人查不出日光之下所做的事；任凭他费多少力寻查，都查不出来，就是智慧人虽想知道，也是查不出来。
I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.
