Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who [is] as the wise? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causeth his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
有誰相似智者，有誰會解釋事理﹖智慧使人的面容煥發，使嚴肅的容貌變為溫和。
2 I pray thee, the commandment of a king keep, even for the sake of the oath of God.
為了向天主起的誓，你應遵守君王的命令；
3 Be not troubled at his presence, thou mayest go, stand not in an evil thing, for all that he pleaseth he doth.
你不可由他面前倉猝離去，也不可行惡，因為凡他喜歡的事，都可隨意執行。
4 Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who saith to him, 'What dost thou?'
原來君王的話具有威力，誰敢向他說：「你做什麼﹖」
5 Whoso is keeping a command knoweth no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knoweth.
遵守誡命的，不會遇到災禍；智者的心能辨識時機和審斷。
6 For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great upon him.
的確，事事都有定時和定案；但重大的負擔仍壓在人身上，
7 For he knoweth not that which shall be, for when it shall be who declareth to him?
因為人不知道將來要發生什麼事，有誰能告訴他，何時要發生﹖
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 delivereth not its possessors.
沒有人有權將生氣保留不失，也沒有人能支配死期，戰場上沒有人能退役，邪惡救不了作惡的人。
9 All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that hath been done under the sun; a time that man hath ruled over man to his own evil.
我看見了這一切，專心研究在太陽下所行的一切事：有時統治人的人，自受其害；
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 also [is] vanity.
有時我看見惡人被抬去安葬，而行義的人卻離開聖處，而在城中被人遺忘：這也是虛幻。
11 Because sentence hath not been done [on] an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.
因為懲惡的定案未有迅速執行，世人因此充滿了行惡的偏向。
12 Though a sinner is doing evil a hundred [times], and prolonging [himself] for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.
惡人雖百次行惡，仍享長壽，姑且不論；我確實知道，那敬畏天主的人，因他們在天主前起敬起畏，必得幸福；
13 And good is not to the wicked, and he doth not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.
而惡人必得不到幸福，他的時日如影，決不能久長，因為他不敬畏天主。
14 There is a vanity that hath been done upon the earth, that there are righteous ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this also [is] vanity.
在世上還有一件虛幻的事：就是義人所遭遇的，反如惡人所應得的；而惡人所遭遇的，反如義人所應得的；我遂說：這也是虛幻。
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 remaineth with him of his labour the days of his life that God hath given to him under the sun.
為此，我稱讚快樂，因為在太陽下，人除了吃喝行樂外，別無幸福；因為這是人在天主賞他在太陽下的一生歲月內，從他的勞苦中，所獲得的幸福。
16 When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that hath been done on the earth, (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),
當我專心追求智慧，觀察人在世上，連黑夜白日都不能閉目安眠，所行的工作時，
17 then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that hath been done under the sun, because though man labour to seek, yet he doth not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.
我面對天主的一切作為，發覺人決不能知道在太陽下所發生的一切事。人雖然努力研究，終歸無法得知；縱然有智者以為知道了，仍是一無所知。
