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.
Ko wai hei rite mo te tangata whakaaro nui? Ko wai hoki e mohio ana ki te tikanga o tetahi mea? Ka ai te whakaaro nui o te tangata hei mea kia tiaho tona mata, ka puta ke ano hoki te taikaha o tona mata.
2 I counsel you to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
Ko taku tenei ki a koe, Puritia te kupu a te kingi, me whakaaro ano hoki ki ta te Atua oati.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he does whatever pleases him.
Kei mea wawe koe ki te haere atu i tona aroaro; kaua ano hoki e tohe tonu ki te mea kino; ka oti hoki i a ia nga mea katoa e pai ai ia.
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say to him, What do you?
No te mea he mana to te kupu a te kingi; a ko wai hei mea atu ki a ia, E aha ana koe?
5 Whoever keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.
Ko te kaipupuri o te whakahau, e kore rawa e mohio ki te mea he. E mohio ana te ngakau o te whakaaro nui ki te wa, ki te tikanga.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great on him.
He wa hoki to nga meatanga katoa, he tikanga ano; he nui hoki no te he o te tangata i runga i a ia.
7 For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Kahore hoki ia e mohio, ko te aha e puta a mua: ma wai hoki e whakaatu ki a ia te peheatanga o te putanga?
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.
Kahore he tangata e whai mana ana ki te wairua, ki te pupuri i te wairua; kahore hoki he mana ki te ra o te mate: i taua pakanga hoki e kore tetahi e tukua atu; e kore ano te kino e whakaora i te mea e tukua atu ki a ia.
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.
I kite ahau i tenei katoa, i anga ano toku ngakau ki nga meatanga katoa e meatia ana i raro i te ra; he wa ano ka whai mana tetahi tangata ki tetahi tangata hei he mona.
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.
I kite ano ahau i reira i te hunga kino e tanumia ana, a i haere mai ratou ki te wahi o te tanumanga; a ko te hunga i mahi i te tika i haere atu i te wahi o te tapu, a warewaretia ana ratou e te pa: he horihori ano hoki tenei.
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.
He kore i hohoro te whakaoti i te kupu whiu mo te mahi he, koia i ki tonu ai nga ngakau o nga tama a te tangata i roto i a ratou ki te tohe ki te mahi i te kino.
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:
Ahakoa he rau nga mahi he a te tangata hara, a ka roa ona ra; heoi e mohio ana ano ahau, ka pai te tukunga iho ki te hunga e wehi ana i te Atua, e wehi nei i tona aroaro.
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.
E kore ia e pai te tukunga iho ki te tangata kino, e kore ano e whakaroaina e ia ona ra, he atarangi nei te rite; mona kihai i wehi i te aroaro o te Atua.
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.
He horihori tenei e mahia nei i runga i te whenua; ara he hunga tika enei, a ko te mea e pa ana ki a ratou pera tonu i te mea e pa ana ki te mahi a te hunga kino: a, he hunga kino enei, a ko te mea e pa ana ki a ratou pera tonu i te mea e pa ana ki te mahi a te hunga tika: i ki ahau he horihori ano hoki tenei.
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.
Katahi ahau ka whakamoemiti ki te koa; no te mea kahore he mea pai ake ma te tangata i raro i te ra, ko te kai anake, ko te inu, ko te harakoa: ko tera hoki e mau ki a ia i roto i tona mauiui i nga ra o tona oranga, i homai nei e te Atua ki a ia i raro i te ra.
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: )
I taku tukunga i toku ngakau kia mohio ki te whakaaro nui, kia kite i te raruraru e mahia nei i runga i te whenua: i te ao nei hoki, i te po kahore ona kanohi e kite i te moe:
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.
Katahi ahau ka kite i te mahi a te Atua, ara e kore e kitea e te tangata te mahi e mahia ana i raro i te ra: ahakoa mauiui noa te tangata i te rapunga, e kore e kitea e ia: ae ra, ahakoa mea noa te tangata whakaaro nui kia mohiotia e ia, e kore e taea kia kitea e ia.
