Ecclesiastes 6
1 I have seen something [else here] on this earth that troubles people.
Est et aliud malum quod vidi sub sole, et quidem frequens apud homines:
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.
vir cui dedit Deus divitias, et substantiam, et honorem, et nihil deest animæ suæ ex omnibus quæ desiderat; nec tribuit ei potestatem Deus ut comedat ex eo, sed homo extraneus vorabit illud: hoc vanitas et miseria magna est.
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 genuerit quispiam centum liberos, et vixerit multos annos, et plures dies ætatis habuerit, et anima illius non utatur bonis substantiæ suæ, sepulturaque careat: de hoc ergo pronuntio quod melior illo sit abortivus.
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.
Frustra enim venit, et pergit ad tenebras, et oblivione delebitur nomen ejus.
5 It does not [live to] see the sun or know anything. But it finds more rest than rich people do [who are alive].
Non vidit solem, neque cognovit distantiam boni et mali.
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].
Etiam si duobus millibus annis vixerit, et non fuerit perfruitus bonis, nonne ad unum locum properant omnia?
7 People work hard to [earn enough money to buy] food to eat [MTY], but [often] they never get enough to eat.
Omnis labor hominis in ore ejus; sed anima ejus non implebitur.
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.
Quid habet amplius sapiens a stulto? et quid pauper, nisi ut pergat illuc ubi est vita?
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.
Melius est videre quod cupias, quam desiderare quod nescias. Sed et hoc vanitas est, et præsumptio spiritus.
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.
Qui futurus est, jam vocatum est nomen ejus; et scitur quod homo sit, et non possit contra fortiorem se in judicio contendere.
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.
Verba sunt plurima, multamque in disputando habentia vanitatem.
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].
Quid necesse est homini majora se quærere, cum ignoret quid conducat sibi in vita sua, numero dierum peregrinationis suæ, et tempore quod velut umbra præterit? aut quis ei poterit indicare quod post eum futurum sub sole sit?
