Ecclésiaste 7
1 Mieux vaut une bonne renommée que le bon parfum, et le jour de la mort que le jour de la naissance.
[Having] a good reputation [MTY] is better than fine perfume, and the day that we die is better than the day that we are born.
2 Mieux vaut aller dans la maison de deuil, que d’aller dans la maison de festin, en ce que là est la fin de tout homme; et le vivant prend cela à cœur.
It is better to go to a house where people are mourning [about someone who has died] than to go to a house where people are feasting, because everyone will die some day, and people who are alive should think seriously [IDM] about that.
3 Mieux vaut le chagrin que le rire, car le cœur est rendu meilleur par la tristesse du visage.
It is better to be sad than to be [always] laughing, because being sad can cause us to think more about how we should conduct our lives [IDM].
4 Le cœur des sages est dans la maison de deuil, mais le cœur des sots, dans la maison de joie.
Wise [people] who go to where others are mourning think about [the fact that some day they also will] die, but foolish people [PRS] [do not think about that]; they are always [MTY] laughing.
5 Mieux vaut écouter la répréhension du sage, que d’écouter la chanson des sots.
It is better to pay attention to [someone who is wise] you than to listen to the songs of a foolish person.
6 Car comme le bruit des épines sous la marmite, ainsi est le rire du sot. Cela aussi est vanité.
By [listening to] foolish people laughing we will not [learn any more than by listening to] the crackling of thorns [being burned] under a pot. Listening to fools is senseless.
7 Certainement, l’oppression rend insensé le sage, et le don ruine le cœur.
When wise people say to others, “You must pay me a lot of money for me to protect you,” that causes those wise people to become foolish, and [accepting] bribes causes people to become unable to do what is fair/just.
8 Mieux vaut la fin d’une chose que son commencement. Mieux vaut un esprit patient qu’un esprit hautain.
Finishing something is better than starting something, and being patient is better than being proud.
9 Ne te hâte pas en ton esprit pour t’irriter, car l’irritation repose dans le sein des sots.
Do not quickly (lose your temper/react to things angrily), because it is foolish people [SYN] who become very angry.
10 Ne dis pas: Comment se fait-il que les jours précédents ont été meilleurs que ceux-ci? car ce n’est pas par sagesse que tu t’enquiers de cela.
Do not say, “Things were a lot better [RHQ] previously,” because it is people who are not wise who say that.
11 La sagesse est aussi bonne qu’un héritage, et profitable pour ceux qui voient le soleil;
Being wise is better than inheriting [valuable things]; being wise provides lasting benefits for every person on the earth [MTY].
12 car on est à l’ombre de la sagesse [comme] à l’ombre de l’argent; mais l’avantage de la connaissance, [c’est que] la sagesse fait vivre celui qui la possède.
We are [sometimes] protected by being wise like we are [sometimes] protected by having a lot of money, but being wise is better [than having a lot of money], [because] being wise prevents us from [doing foolish things that would] cause us to die.
13 Considère l’œuvre de Dieu, car qui peut redresser ce qu’il a tordu?
Think [carefully about] what God has done. Certainly no one can [RHQ] cause to become straight the things that God has caused to be crooked.
14 Au jour du bien-être, jouis du bien-être, et, au jour de l’adversité, prends garde; car Dieu a placé l’un vis-à-vis de l’autre, afin que l’homme ne trouve rien [de ce qui sera] après lui.
When things are going well for you, be happy, and when things are not going well for you, remember that God is the one who causes good things to happen and who also causes disasters.
15 J’ai vu tout [cela] dans les jours de ma vanité: il y a tel juste qui périt par sa justice, et il y a tel méchant qui prolonge [ses jours] par son iniquité.
During all the time that I have been alive I have seen a lot of [HYP] things that seem senseless. I have seen righteous people die [while they are still young], and I have seen wicked people remain alive for a very long time in [spite of] their continuing to be wicked.
16 Ne sois pas juste à l’excès, et ne fais pas le sage outre mesure; pourquoi te détruirais-tu?
[So] do not think that you are very righteous and do not think that you are very wise, [because if you think those things], you will destroy yourself.
17 Ne sois pas méchant à l’excès, et ne sois pas insensé; pourquoi mourrais-tu avant ton temps? –
If you do what is evil or do what is foolish, you might die while you are still young.
18 Il est bon que tu saisisses ceci et que tu ne retires point ta main de cela; car qui craint Dieu sort de tout.
Continue to avoid doing what is evil and doing what is foolish; avoid doing both of those things by continually revering God.
19 La sagesse fortifie le sage plus que dix hommes puissants qui sont dans la ville.
If you are wise, you will be more powerful/influential than the ten most powerful/influential men in your city.
20 Certes, il n’y a pas d’homme juste sur la terre qui ait fait le bien et qui n’ait pas péché.
There is no one in this world who [always] does what is right and who never sins.
21 Aussi ne mets pas ton cœur à toutes les paroles qu’on dit, afin que tu n’entendes pas ton serviteur te maudissant.
Do not pay attention [IDM] to everything that people say, because if you do that, you might hear your servant cursing you.
22 Car aussi ton cœur sait que bien des fois, toi aussi, tu as maudit les autres.
You know that you have also cursed other people.
23 J’ai éprouvé tout cela par la sagesse; j’ai dit: Je serai sage; mais elle était loin de moi.
I said [to myself] that I would use my wisdom to study all the things [that I have written about], but I was not able to do it successfully.
24 Ce qui a été est loin et très profond, qui le trouvera?
Wisdom seems to be far from me; there is no one [RHQ] who can truly understand everything.
25 Je me suis mis, moi et mon cœur, à connaître et à explorer et à rechercher la sagesse et l’intelligence, et à connaître que la méchanceté est sottise, et la folie, déraison;
But I decided to investigate things and by my wisdom try to understand the reason for everything. I also wanted to understand why people act wickedly and why they act very foolishly.
26 et j’ai trouvé plus amère que la mort la femme dont le cœur est [comme] des filets et des rets, [et] dont les mains sont des chaînes: celui qui est agréable à Dieu lui échappera, mais celui qui pèche sera pris par elle.
[One thing I learned was that] (allowing a woman to seduce you/having sex with a woman to whom you are not married) is worse than dying. A woman who tries to seduce men is [as dangerous as] a trap [MET]. [If you allow her to put] her arms [around you, it will be as though she will be fastening you with] chains. Women like that will capture sinful men, but men who please God will escape from such women.
27 Regarde ceci que j’ai trouvé, dit le prédicateur, [en examinant les choses] une à une pour en trouver la raison,
This is what I have learned: I tried to learn more and more about things to try to find out the reason for everything,
28 ce que mon âme cherche encore et que je n’ai pas trouvé: j’ai trouvé un homme entre mille, mais une femme entre elles toutes, je ne l’ai pas trouvée.
and I continued to try to learn more, but I could not find [all that I was searching for]. [But] one thing that I found out was that among 1,000 [people] I found one righteous man, but I did not find even one righteous woman.
29 Seulement, voici, j’ai trouvé que Dieu a fait l’homme droit; mais eux, ils ont cherché beaucoup de raisonnements.
[But] I did learn one thing: When God created people, they were righteous, but they have found many ways to do many evil things.
