< Ecclesiastes 6 >

1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it [is] great on man:
我看見在太陽下,另有一種不幸,重壓在人身上:
2 A man to whom God gives wealth, and riches, and honor, and there is no lack to his soul of all that he desires, and God does not give him power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it; this [is] vanity, and it [is] an evil disease.
有一人,天主賜他富裕、錢財、光榮;凡他心中所願意的,一件也不缺;但天主沒有讓他享用這一切,卻讓外人享用了:這也是空虛,是一件很悲慘的事。
3 If a man begets one hundred, and lives many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he has not had a grave, I have said, “Better than he [is] the untimely birth.”
有一人生有百子,活了很大歲數,他年紀雖高,卻沒有隨心享受福樂,且未得安葬,照我看來,他還不如流產的胎兒。
4 For in vanity he came in, and in darkness he goes, and in darkness his name is covered,
流產的胎兒徒然而來,悄然而去,他的名字也湮沒無聞;
5 even the sun he has not seen nor known, more rest has this than that.
他沒有見過天日,也沒有任何知覺,但他總比那人更享安寧。
6 And though he had lived one thousand years twice over, yet he has not seen good; does not everyone go to the same place?
那人即便活了兩千歲,如未享受福樂,他們二人豈不是同歸一處﹖
7 All the labor of man [is] for his mouth, And yet the soul is not filled.
人的一切勞碌都是為了口腹,但他的慾望卻總不知滿足。
8 For what advantage [is] to the wise above the fool? What to the poor who knows to walk before the living?
智者較愚者究有什麼利益﹖知道如何與人往來的窮人,能得什麼好處﹖
9 Better [is] the sight of the eyes than the going of the soul. This [is] also vanity and distress of spirit.
眼看見過的總勝過心所想望的:這也是空虛,也是追風。
10 What [is] that which has been? Already is its name called, and it is known that it [is] man, And he is not able to contend with him who is stronger than he.
已往所有的,都已有名可稱;人為何物,都已知道;人決不能與強於自己的抗辯。
11 For there are many things multiplying vanity; What advantage [is] to man?
說話多,必多空談:這對人能有什麼益處﹖
12 For who knows what [is] good for a man in life, the number of the days of the life of his vanity, and he makes them as a shadow? For who declares to man what is after him under the sun?
在空虛,消逝如影的人生少數歲月內,有誰知道什麼事對人有益﹖又有誰能指給人指示,他身後在太陽下要發生什麼事﹖

< Ecclesiastes 6 >