Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who is as the wise man? and who knows the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom makes his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
Se kilès ki tankou nonm saj ki konnen sans a yon bagay? Sajès a yon nonm klere li e fè vizaj sevè li a vin briye.
2 I counsel you to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
Mwen di: “Swiv lòd wa a akoz sèman ki te fèt devan Bondye a.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he does whatever pleases him.
Pa prese abandone lòd li. Pa jwenn ou menm nan yon move konbinezon, paske l ap fè nenpòt sa ki fè li plezi.”
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say to him, What do you?
Akoz pawòl a wa a pote otorite, se kilès ki va di l: “Kisa w ap fè la a?”
5 Whoever keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.
Sila ki swiv yon kòmand wayal pa jwenn twoub; paske yon kè saj konnen tan ak mwayen ki bon pou aji.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great on him.
Paske gen yon tan ak mwayen ki bon pou chak plezi, malgre pwoblèm moun an peze lou sou li.
7 For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Si pa gen pèsòn ki konnen ki sa k ap vin rive, se kilès ki ka di li kilè li va rive.
8 There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
Nanpwen moun ki ka sèvi ak van pou anpeche van, ni ki gen otorite sou jou lanmò a; epi pa gen lese tonbe ni kite nan tan lagè, ni mal la kap fèt p ap delivre sila ki fè l yo.
9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man rules over another to his own hurt.
Tout sa mwen konn wè yo, e kon aplike panse m a tout zèv ki te fèt anba solèy la, kote moun sèvi otorite l sou lòt pou fè mal la.
10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
Konsa, mwen konn wè mechan yo antere, menm sila ki te konn antre sòti nan lye sen yo, e ase vit yo vin bliye nèt nan menm vil kote yo te aji konsa a. Sa tou, se vanite.
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Akoz jijman kont yon zak mechan pa rive ase vit; akoz sa, kè fis a lòm nan ki rete pami yo vin dedye nèt pou fè mal.
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
Malgre yon pechè fè mal san fwa e mennen yon vi ki long, mwen toujou konnen ke sa prale byen pou sila ki gen lakrent Bondye yo, ki gen lakrent devan L yo.
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he fears not before God.
Men, sa pa prale byen pou moun mechan an, e li p ap pwolonje jou li yo tankou yon lonbraj, paske li pa gen lakrent Bondye.
14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth; that there be just men, to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
Gen yon vanite ki fèt sou latè, sa vle di, gen moun dwat ki vin viktim a mechan yo. Yon lòt kote, gen moun mechan an ki vin tonbe akoz zèv moun dwat yo. Mwen di sa anplis se vanite.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.
Pou sa, mwen te rekòmande plezi; paske, pa gen anyen pou yon nonm anba solèy la fè sof ke manje, bwè, e fè plezi; epi sa va fè l kanpe nan travay di li diran tout jou lavi, ke Bondye te bay li anba solèy la.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes: )
Lè mwen te bay kè m pou aprann sajès ak pou m wè tach ki te konn fèt sou tè a, (malgre sa ta fè yon moun pa janm dòmi ni lajounen, ni lannwit),
17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yes farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
konsa, lè mwen te wè tout zèv Bondye te fè, mwen te vin aprann ke lòm p ap kapab dekouvri travay ki te konn fèt anba syèl la. Malgre lòm ta chache ak tout dilijans, li p ap twouve li. Malgre yon nonm saj ta di: “Mwen konnen”, li p ap ka dekouvri li.
