Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a right/correct time for everything, a time for everything that we do in this world.
天が下の萬の事には期あり 萬の事務には時あり
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.
生るるに時あり死るに時あり 植るに時あり植たる者を抜に時あり
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.
殺すに時あり醫すに時あり 毀つに時あり建るに時あり
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].
泣に時あり笑ふに時あり 悲むに時あり躍るに時あり
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].
石を擲つに時あり石を斂むるに時あり 懐くに時あり懐くことをせざるに時あり
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.
得に時あり失ふに時あり 保つに時あり棄るに時あり
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.
裂に時あり縫に時あり 黙すに時あり語るに時あり
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.
愛しむに時あり惡むに時あり 戦ふに時あり和ぐに時あり
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]).
働く者はその労して爲ところよりして何の益を得んや
10 I have seen the work that God has given people to do.
我神が世の人にさづけて身をこれに労せしめたまふところの事作を視たり
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.
神の爲したまふところは皆その時に適ひて美麗しかり 神はまた人の心に永遠をおもふの思念を授けたまへり 然れば人は神のなしたまふ作爲を始より終まで知明むることを得ざるなり
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.
我知る人の中にはその世にある時に快樂をなし善をおこなふより外に善事はあらず
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.
また人はみな食飮をなしその労苦によりて逸樂を得べきなり 是すなはち神の賜物たり
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.
我知る凡て神のなしたまふ事は限なく存せん 是は加ふべき所なく是は減すべきところ無し 神の之をなしたまふは人をしてその前に畏れしめんがためなり
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.
昔ありたる者は今もあり 後にあらん者は既にありし者なり 神はその遂やられし者を索めたまふ
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.
我また日の下を見るに審判をおこなふ所に邪曲なる事あり 公義を行ふところに邪曲なる事あり
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.”
我すなはち心に謂けらく神は義者と惡者とを鞫きたまはん 彼處において萬の事と萬の所爲に時あるなり
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,
我また心に謂けらく是事あるは是世の人のためなり 即ち神は斯世の人を検して之にその獣のごとくなることを自ら暁らしめ給ふなり
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.
世の人に臨むところの事はまた獣にも臨む この二者に臨むところの事は同一にして是も死ば彼も死るなり 皆同一の呼吸に依れり 人は獣にまさる所なし皆空なり
20 [People and animals] all die and are buried. We are all made of soil, and [when we die], our corpses become soil again.
皆一の所に往く 皆塵より出で皆塵にかへるなり
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.”
誰か人の魂の上に昇り獣の魂の地にくだることを知ん
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.
然ば人はその動作によりて逸樂をなすに如はなし 是その分なればなり 我これを見る その身の後の事は誰かこれを携へゆきて見さしむる者あらんや
