Ecclesiastes 6
1 I have seen something [else here] on this earth that troubles people.
Il est une calamité que j'ai vue sous le soleil, et qui pèse souvent sur les humains.
2 God enables some people to get a lot of money and possessions and to be honored; they have everything [LIT] that they want. But God [sometimes] does not allow them to continue to enjoy those things. Someone else gets them and enjoys them. That seems senseless and unfair.
Il est tel homme auquel Dieu donne des biens, des richesses et de la gloire, et cela, à ce qu'il ait de quoi ne priver son âme de rien de ce qu'il désire; et Dieu ne le laisse pas maître d'en jouir, mais c'est un étranger qui en jouit. C'est là une vanité et un mal fâcheux.
3 Someone might have 100 children and live for many years. But if he is not able to enjoy the things that he has acquired, and if he is not buried [properly after he dies], [I say that] a child that is dead when it is born is more fortunate.
Si un homme avait cent fils, et s'il vivait un grand nombre d'années, et que les jours de ses années se multipliassent, et si son âme ne se rassasiait pas de bien-être, et que de plus il restât sans sépulture, je dirais: Plus heureux que lui est l'avorton;
4 That dead baby’s birth is meaningless; it does not even have a name. It goes directly to the place where there is only darkness.
car celui-ci naît vainement, et il s'en va obscurément, et les ténèbres recouvrent son nom;
5 It does not [live to] see the sun or know anything. But it finds more rest than rich people do [who are alive].
il n'a non plus ni vu ni connu le soleil: il a le repos de plus que l'autre.
6 Even if people could live for 2,000 years, if they do not enjoy the things that God gives to them, [it would have been better for them never to have been born]. [All people who live a long time] certainly [RHQ] all go to the same place— [to the grave].
Que s'il vivait deux fois mille ans, mais sans jouir des biens… tout ne va-t-il pas au même rendez-vous? –
7 People work hard to [earn enough money to buy] food to eat [MTY], but [often] they never get enough to eat.
Tout le labeur de l'homme aboutit à sa bouche; toutefois sa cupidité n'est jamais assouvie.
8 So it seems that [RHQ] wise people do not receive more lasting benefits than foolish people do. And it seems that [RHQ] poor people do not benefit from knowing how to conduct their lives.
Quel avantage, en effet, le sage a-t-il sur le fou? Quel avantage, le pauvre qui sait vivre en face des hommes?
9 It is better to enjoy the things that we already have [MTY] than to constantly want more things; continually wanting more things is [senseless], [like] the wind.
Mieux vaut ce qui est à la portée de nos yeux, que le mouvement de la cupidité: il est aussi une vanité et un effort stérile.
10 All the things that exist [on the earth] have been given names. And everyone knows what people are like, [so] it is useless to argue with someone (OR, with God) who is stronger than we are.
Ce qui existe, a dès longtemps été appelé par son nom; et l'on sait ce qu'est l'homme, et il ne saurait disputer avec Celui qui est plus puissant que lui.
11 The more [that we] talk, the more [often we say things that are] senseless, so it certainly does not [RHQ] benefit us to talk a lot.
Car il y a une multitude de choses qui multiplient la vanité.
12 We live for only a short time; we disappear like [SIM] a shadow disappears [in the sunlight]. No one [RHQ] knows what is best for us while we are alive, and no one [RHQ] knows what will happen to us after we die [EUP].
Qu'est-ce qui reste à l'homme? Car qui sait ce qui est bien pour l'homme dans la vie, pendant les quelques jours de sa vie de vanité qu'il passe comme l'ombre? Et qui révélera à l'homme ce qui aura lieu après lui sous le soleil?
