Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who [is] as the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
Sapientia hominis lucet in vultu ejus, et potentissimus faciem illius commutabit.
2 I [counsel]: keep the command of a king, even for the sake of an oath [to] God.
Ego os regis observo, et præcepta juramenti Dei.
3 Do not be troubled at his presence, you may go, do not stand in an evil thing, for all that he pleases he does.
Ne festines recedere a facie ejus, neque permaneas in opere malo: quia omne quod voluerit faciet.
4 Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who says to him, “What do you do?”
Et sermo illius potestate plenus est, nec dicere ei quisquam potest: Quare ita facis?
5 Whoever is keeping a command knows no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knows.
Qui custodit præceptum non experietur quidquam mali. Tempus et responsionem cor sapientis intelligit.
6 For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great on him.
Omni negotio tempus est, et opportunitas: et multa hominis afflictio,
7 For he does not know that which will be, for when it will be who declares to him?
quia ignorat præterita, et futura nullo scire potest nuntio.
8 There is no man ruling over the spirit to restrain the spirit, and there is no authority over the day of death, and there is no discharge in battle, and wickedness does not deliver its possessors.
Non est in hominis potestate prohibere spiritum, nec habet potestatem in die mortis: nec sinitur quiescere ingruente bello, neque salvabit impietas impium.
9 All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that has been done under the sun; a time that man has ruled over man to his own evil.
Omnia hæc consideravi, et dedi cor meum in cunctis operibus quæ fiunt sub sole. Interdum dominatur homo homini in malum suum.
10 And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This [is] also vanity.
Vidi impios sepultos, qui etiam cum adhuc viverent in loco sancto erant, et laudabantur in civitate quasi justorum operum. Sed et hoc vanitas est.
11 Because sentence has not been done [on] an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.
Etenim quia non profertur cito contra malos sententia, absque timore ullo filii hominum perpetrant mala.
12 Though a sinner is doing evil one hundred [times], and prolonging [himself] for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.
Attamen peccator ex eo quod centies facit malum, et per patientiam sustentatur; ego cognovi quod erit bonum timentibus Deum, qui verentur faciem ejus.
13 And good is not to the wicked, and he does not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.
Non sit bonum impio, nec prolongentur dies ejus, sed quasi umbra transeant qui non timent faciem Domini.
14 There is a vanity that has been done on the earth, that there are righteous ones to whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones to whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this [is] also vanity.
Est et alia vanitas quæ fit super terram: sunt justi quibus mala proveniunt quasi opera egerint impiorum: et sunt impii qui ita securi sunt quasi justorum facta habeant. Sed et hoc vanissimum judico.
15 And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remains with him of his labor the days of his life that God has given to him under the sun.
Laudavi igitur lætitiam; quod non esset homini bonum sub sole, nisi quod comederet, et biberet, atque gauderet, et hoc solum secum auferret de labore suo, in diebus vitæ suæ quos dedit ei Deus sub sole.
16 When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that has been done on the earth (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),
Et apposui cor meum ut scirem sapientiam, et intelligerem distentionem quæ versatur in terra. Est homo qui diebus et noctibus somnum non capit oculis.
17 then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that has been done under the sun, because though man labor to seek, yet he does not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.
Et intellexi quod omnium operum Dei nullam possit homo invenire rationem eorum quæ fiunt sub sole; et quanto plus laboraverit ad quærendum, tanto minus inveniat: etiam si dixerit sapiens se nosse, non poterit reperire.
