Ecclesiastes 9
1 I have drawn all these things through my heart, so that I might carefully understand. There are just men as well as wise men, and their works are in the hand of God. And yet a man does not know so much as whether he is worthy of love or of hatred.
我留心考察這一切，終於看出：義人、智者和他們的行為，都在天主手裏；是愛是恨，人不知道；二者都能來到他們身上。
2 But all things in the future remain uncertain, because all things happen equally to the just and to the impious, to the good and to the bad, to the pure and to the impure, to those who offer sacrifices and to those who despise sacrifices. As the good are, so also are sinners. As those who commit perjury are, so also are those who swear to the truth.
無論是義人，是惡人，是好人，是壞人，是潔淨的人，是不潔淨的人，是獻祭的人，是不獻祭的人，都有同樣的命運；好人與罪人一樣，妄發誓的與怕發誓的也一樣。
3 This is a very great burden among all things that are done under the sun: that the same things happen to everyone. And when the hearts of the sons of men are filled with malice and contempt in their lives, afterwards they shall be dragged down to hell. (questioned)
太陽之下所發生的一切事中，最不幸的是眾人都有同樣的命運；更有甚者，世人的心都充滿邪惡，有生之日，心懷狂妄，以後與死者相聚。
4 There is no one who lives forever, or who even has confidence in this regard. A living dog is better than a dead lion.
的確，誰尚與活人有聯繫，還懷有希望，因為一隻活狗勝過一隻死獅。
5 For the living know that they themselves will die, yet truly the dead know nothing anymore, nor do they have any recompense. For the memory of them is forgotten.
活著的人至少自知必死，而死了的人卻一無所知；他們再得不到報酬，因為連他們的記念也被人遺忘了。
6 Likewise, love and hatred and envy have all perished together, nor have they any place in this age and in the work which is done under the sun.
他們的愛好，他們的憎恨，他們的熱誠，皆已消失；在太陽下所發生的一切事，永遠再沒有他們的分。
7 So then, go and eat your bread with rejoicing, and drink your wine with gladness. For your works are pleasing to God.
你倒不如去快樂地吃你的飯，開懷暢飲你的酒，因為天主早已嘉納你所作的工作。
8 Let your garments be white at all times, and let not oil be absent from your head.
你的衣服常要潔白，你頭上不要缺少香液。
9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your uncertain life which have been given to you under the sun, during all the time of your vanity. For this is your portion in life and in your labor, with which you labor under the sun.
在天主賜你在太陽下的一生虛幻歲月中，同你的愛妻共享人生之樂：這原是你在太陽下，一生從勞苦中所應得的一分。
10 Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly. For neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge will exist in death, toward which you are hurrying. (Sheol h7585)
你手能做什麼，就努力去做，因為在你所要去的陰府內，沒有工作，沒有計劃，沒有學問，沒有智慧。 (Sheol h7585)
11 I turned myself toward another thing, and I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor wealth to the learned, nor grace to the skillful: but there is a time and an end for all these things.
我又在太陽下看見：善跑的不得競賽，勇將不得參戰，智者得不到食物，明白人得不到財富，博學者得不到寵幸，因為他們都遭遇了不幸的時運。
12 Man does not know his own end. But, just as fish are caught with a hook, and birds are captured with a snare, so are men seized in the evil time, when it will suddenly overwhelm them.
因為人不知道自己的時期，當凶險猝然而至的時候，人子為不幸的時運所獲，就像魚被網捕住，又像鳥被圈套套住。
13 This wisdom, likewise, I have seen under the sun, and I have examined it intensely.
在太陽下我又得了一個智慧的經驗，依我看來，大有意義：
14 There was a small city, with a few men in it. There came against it a great king, who surrounded it, and built fortifications all around it, and the blockade was completed.
有座小城，裏面居民不多；有位大王來攻打此城，把城圍住，周圍築了高壘。
15 And there was found within it, a poor and wise man, and he freed the city through his wisdom, and nothing was recorded afterward of that poor man.
那時，城中有個貧賤卻具有智慧的人，他用自己的智慧，救了本城：可是人們卻忘了這貧賤的人。
16 And so, I declared that wisdom is better than strength. But how is it, then, that the wisdom of the poor man is treated with contempt, and his words are not heeded?
於是我說：智慧遠勝過武力；然而貧賤人的智慧卻被人輕忽，他的話卻沒有人聽。
17 The words of the wise are heard in silence, more so than the outcry of a prince among the foolish.
智者溫和的言語，比王者在愚人中的吶喊，更受歡迎。
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war. And whoever offends in one thing, shall lose many good things.
智慧勝於武器；一個錯誤能破壞許多好事。
