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.
誰か智者に如ん誰か事物の理を解ことを得ん 人の智慧はその人の面に光輝あらしむ 又その粗暴面も變改べし
2 Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.
我言ふ王の命を守るべし旣に神をさして誓ひしことあれば然るべきなり
3 Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
早まりて王の前を去ることなかれ 惡き事につのること勿れ 其は彼は凡てその好むところを爲ばなり
4 For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
王の言語には權力あり 然ば誰か之に汝何をなすやといふことを得ん
5 Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
命令を守る者は禍患を受るに至らず 智者の心は時期と判斷を知なり
6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
萬の事務には時あり判斷あり是をもて人大なる禍患をうくるに至るあり
7 Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
人は後にあらんところの事を知ず また誰か如何なる事のあらんかを之に告る者あらん
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.
霊魂を掌管て霊魂を留めうる人あらず 人はその死る日には權力あること旡し 此戰爭には釋放たるる者あらず 又罪惡はこれを行ふ者を救ふことを得せざるなり
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.
我この一切の事を見また日の下におこなはるる諸の事に心を用ひたり時としては此人彼人を治めてこれに害を蒙らしむることあり
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.
我見しに惡人の葬られて安息にいるあり また善をおこなふ者の聖所を離れてその邑に忘らるるに至るあり是また空なり
11 When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
惡き事の報速にきたらざるが故に世人心を専にして惡をおこなふ
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.
罪を犯す者百次惡をなして猶長命あれども 我知る神を畏みてその前に畏怖をいだく者には幸福あるべし
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.
但し惡人には幸福あらず またその生命も長からずして影のごとし 其は神の前に畏怖をいだくことなければなり
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.
我日の下に空なる事のおこなはるるを見たり 即ち義人にして惡人の遭べき所に遭ふ者あり 惡人にして義人の遭べきところに遭ふ者あり 我謂り是もまた空なり
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.
是に於て我喜樂を讃む 其は食飮して樂むよりも好き事は日の下にあらざればなり 人の勞して得る物の中是こそはその日の下にて神にたまはる生命の日の間その身に離れざる者なれ
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—
茲に我心をつくして智慧を知らんとし世に爲ところの事を究めんとしたり 人は夜も晝もその目をとぢて眠ることをせざるなり
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.
我神の諸の作爲を見しが人は日の下におこなはるるところの事を究むるあたはざるなり 人これを究めんと勞するもこれを究むることを得ず 且又智者ありてこれを知ると思ふもこれを究むることあたはざるなり
