Ecclesiastes 8
1 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.
有誰相似智者，有誰會解釋事理﹖智慧使人的面容煥發，使嚴肅的容貌變為溫和。
2 Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.
為了向天主起的誓，你應遵守君王的命令；
3 Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
你不可由他面前倉猝離去，也不可行惡，因為凡他喜歡的事，都可隨意執行。
4 For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
原來君王的話具有威力，誰敢向他說：「你做什麼﹖」
5 Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
遵守誡命的，不會遇到災禍；智者的心能辨識時機和審斷。
6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
的確，事事都有定時和定案；但重大的負擔仍壓在人身上，
7 Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
因為人不知道將來要發生什麼事，有誰能告訴他，何時要發生﹖
8 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.
沒有人有權將生氣保留不失，也沒有人能支配死期，戰場上沒有人能退役，邪惡救不了作惡的人。
9 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.
我看見了這一切，專心研究在太陽下所行的一切事：有時統治人的人，自受其害；
10 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.
有時我看見惡人被抬去安葬，而行義的人卻離開聖處，而在城中被人遺忘：這也是虛幻。
11 When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
因為懲惡的定案未有迅速執行，世人因此充滿了行惡的偏向。
12 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.
惡人雖百次行惡，仍享長壽，姑且不論；我確實知道，那敬畏天主的人，因他們在天主前起敬起畏，必得幸福；
13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
而惡人必得不到幸福，他的時日如影，決不能久長，因為他不敬畏天主。
14 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.
在世上還有一件虛幻的事：就是義人所遭遇的，反如惡人所應得的；而惡人所遭遇的，反如義人所應得的；我遂說：這也是虛幻。
15 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.
為此，我稱讚快樂，因為在太陽下，人除了吃喝行樂外，別無幸福；因為這是人在天主賞他在太陽下的一生歲月內，從他的勞苦中，所獲得的幸福。
16 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—
當我專心追求智慧，觀察人在世上，連黑夜白日都不能閉目安眠，所行的工作時，
17 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.
我面對天主的一切作為，發覺人決不能知道在太陽下所發生的一切事。人雖然努力研究，終歸無法得知；縱然有智者以為知道了，仍是一無所知。
