Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a right/correct time for everything, a time for everything that we do in this world.
事事有時節，天下任何事皆有定時：
2 There is a time to be born, and there is a time to die. There is a time to plant [seeds], and there is a time to harvest crops.
生有時，死有時，栽種有時，拔除栽種的亦有時；
3 There is a time to kill [people], and there is a time to heal [people]. There is a time to tear things down, and there is a time to build things.
殺戮有時，治療有時，拆毀有時，建築有時；
4 There is a time to cry, and there is a time to laugh. There is a time to mourn, and there is a time to dance [joyfully].
哭有時，笑有時，哀悼有時，舞蹈有時；
5 There is a time to throw away stones [from a field], and there is a time to gather stones [to build walls/houses]. There is a time to embrace [people], and there is a time to not embrace [people].
拋石有時，堆石有時；擁抱有時，戒避擁抱亦有時；
6 There is a time to search for things, and there is a time to stop searching for things. There is a time to keep/save things, and there is a time to throw things away.
尋找有時，遺失有時；保存有時，捨棄有時；
7 There is a time to tear [our old clothes], and there is a time to mend [clothes]. There is a time to say nothing, and there is a time when we should speak.
撕裂有時，縫綴有時；緘默有時，言談有時，
8 There is a time when we should love [things that people do], and there is a time when we should hate [things that people do]. There is a time for war, and there is a time for peace.
愛慕有時，憎恨有時；作戰有時，和睦有時。
9 (What do people gain from all the work that they do?/It seems that people gain very little from all the work that they do [RHQ]).
工作的人，從勞苦中得了什麼利益﹖
10 I have seen the work that God has given people to do.
我觀察了天主交予人類所應從事的事務，得知：
11 God has appointed a time that is right/correct for everything to happen. He has [also] caused people to realize that there are things that will endure forever. But in spite of that, no one can completely understand everything that God has done, from the time that he starts doing things until he finishes them.
天主所行的一切事宜，都很適時，並賜給人認識時事的經歷，但人仍不能明瞭，天主自始至終所做的工作。
12 I know that the best [LIT] thing for us people to do is to rejoice and to do good things [all] during the time that we are alive.
於是我明瞭：人類的幸福，只有在此生歡樂享受；
13 And I also know that everyone should eat and drink, and enjoy the work that they do. Those are things that God gives to us.
但人人有吃有喝，享受自己一切勞苦之所得，也是天主的恩賜。
14 I [also] know that what God does endures forever. No one can add to what God does, and no one can take away from the things that God does. God does those things in order that people would revere him.
我知道：凡天主所行的事，永恒不變，無一可增，無一可減。天主這樣作，是為叫人敬畏他。
15 Things that exist now have already existed previously, and things that will happen in the future have already happened previously; God causes the same things to happen many times.
現今所有的，早已有過；將來所有有，先前已有過；因為天主必追尋已往的事。
16 Furthermore, I saw that on this earth [MTY], even in the courts where we expect judges to make right decisions about what people had done, they did many wicked [DOU] things.
我在太陽下還看見：正義之處有不義，公平之處有不平。
17 [So] I said to myself [SYN], “God will judge [both] righteous [people] and wicked [people]; there is a time [for him to do that], because there is a time for him to do everything.”
我心裏想天主必要審判義人和惡人，因為各種事情和行為，在天主那裏都有其定時。
18 And regarding humans, I [also] said to myself, “God is testing us, to show us that [in one way] people are no different than animals,
我想，天主藉此是為使世人認清自己是誰，看清自己與走獸無異。
19 because what happens to people happens to animals. Animals die, and people die. We all must breathe [to remain alive]. [With regard to that], people have no advantage over animals, so I have a difficult time understanding that.
的確，世人的命運，同走獸的命運，都是一樣：前者怎樣死，後者也怎樣死；氣息都一樣，人並不優於走獸：因為都是虛無。
20 [People and animals] all die and are buried. We are all made of soil, and [when we die], our corpses become soil again.
都同歸於一處；既都出於塵土，也都歸於塵土。
21 No one knows [RHQ] for sure that when we die, our souls/spirits go up to heaven and the souls/spirits of animals go down to the place where the dead are.”
人的氣息是否向上高升，走獸的氣息是否下降地下，有誰知道﹖
22 So I concluded that the best thing for [us] people to do is to be happy about the work that we do, because that is what God has given to us. I say that because no one of us [RHQ] knows what happens to us after we die.
因此，我看出：人最好還是享受自己勞苦之所得，因為這是他的命運；有誰能領他去看自己身後的事呢﹖
