Ecclésiaste 5
1 Garde ton pied en entrant dans la maison de Dieu, et approche afin d’écouter. Car l’obéissance vaut beaucoup mieux que les victimes des insensés qui ne savent pas ce qu’ils font de mal.
When you enter God’s temple, you should be sure to listen carefully. Doing that is better than offering sacrifices to God [and then not obeying him], which is foolish.
2 Ne dis rien témérairement, et que ton cœur ne se hâte pas de proférer une parole devant Dieu. Car Dieu est dans le ciel, et toi sur la terre: à cause de cela, que tes paroles soient en petit nombre.
Think carefully before you speak [MTY] or before you promise God that you will do something [IDM]. [Do not forget that] God is in heaven [and he is all-powerful] and you are here on the earth, so think carefully before you [make any promises to God].
3 Les rêves suivent les soins multipliés; et c’est dans les discours multipliés que se trouvera la folie.
If you are continually thinking [and worrying] about things, you will have bad dreams about them and not rest [well]. And the more you talk, the more likely it will be that you will say things that are foolish.
4 Si tu as voué quelque chose à Dieu, ne tarde pas à l’effectuer; car la promesse infidèle et insensée lui déplaît; mais tout ce que tu auras voué, effectue-le;
When you solemnly promise God that you will do something, do not be foolish by delaying in doing it, because God is not pleased with foolish people. Do [all] the things that you promise God that you will do.
5 Parce qu’il vaut beaucoup mieux ne pas vouer, qu’après un vœu ne pas effectuer ses promesses.
It is better to not promise [anything] than to promise to do something, and [then] not doing it.
6 Ne permets pas que ta bouche fasse pécher ta chair, et ne dis pas devant l’ange: Il n’y a point de providence; de peur que Dieu, irrité contre tes paroles, ne détruise toutes les œuvres de tes mains.
Do not sin by promising to do something and then not doing it. And [when you promise God to do something and do not do it], do not say to God’s priest that it was a mistake for you to promise to do that. If you do that, God will certainly [RHQ] become very angry with you, and he will take from you everything that you [SYN] have worked to acquire.
7 Où il y a beaucoup de rêves, il y a beaucoup de vanités et des paroles sans nombre; mais toi, crains Dieu.
Promising to do something and not doing it is like [SIM] a dream that has no value; instead, revere God [by doing what you promised him that you would do].
8 Si tu vois les oppressions des indigents et les jugements pleins de violence, et que la justice est renversée dans une province, ne t’en étonne pas; parce que celui qui est élevé en a un autre plus élevé que lui, et qu’au-dessus d’eux il y en a d’autres encore plus élevés,
Do not be surprised if you see poor [people] being (oppressed/treated cruelly) [by powerful/influential people], or if you see judges making unjust decisions throughout the land. [That happens] because the people who do that are supervised [and cheated by] more important officials [DOU],
9 Et de plus, il y a un roi qui commande à la terre entière qui lui est assujettie.
and even the king forces the people to give him some of the crops that they harvest.
10 L’avare ne sera point rassasié d’argent, et celui qui aime les richesses n’en recueillera point de fruit, et cela donc est vanité.
Everyone who tries to [get as much] money as they can will never think that they have enough. They will never be satisfied with the money that they have. That also is senseless.
11 Où il y a beaucoup de biens, il y a aussi beaucoup de gens qui les mangent. Et de quoi sert-il au possesseur, si ce n’est qu’il voit des richesses de ses yeux?
The more money that we have, the more people want us to spend our money to buy things for them. So people who have a lot of money do not [RHQ] benefit from it; they see [MTY] it when they get it, but it soon (disappears/is completely spent).
12 Il est doux, le sommeil, à celui qui travaille, qu’il ait mangé peu ou beaucoup; mais la satiété du riche ne lui permet pas de dormir.
Those who work hard sleep peacefully [at night], even if they do not have much food to eat. But rich [people] do not sleep well, because [they worry] about their money.
13 Il est aussi une maladie, très malheureuse, que j’ai vue sous le soleil: des richesses conservées pour le malheur de leur maître.
I have seen [another] terrible thing that happens here on the earth [MTY]: People save [up all] their money and become rich, [but] they are not helped by saving a lot of money,
14 Il les voit périr avec une affliction très grande: il a engendré un fils qui sera dans une extrême détresse.
[because] something happens that causes their money to be gone, and when they die, there is no money for their children to get/inherit.
15 Comme il est sorti nu du sein de sa mère, ainsi il s’en retournera, et il n’emportera rien avec lui de son travail.
When we are born, we do not bring anything with us, and when we die, we take nothing with us from all that we have earned by our working hard.
16 Maladie tout à fait misérable: comme elle est venue, ainsi elle s’en retournera. Que lui sert donc d’avoir travaillé pour le vent?
That also seems senseless. People bring nothing [into the world when they are born], and they leave [this world] taking nothing with them. They have worked hard, but they receive no lasting benefit [MET].
17 Tous les jours de sa vie, il a mangé dans les ténèbres, dans des soins multipliés, dans le chagrin et dans la tristesse.
[Furthermore, rich people] are always miserable [MET] and sad, and depressed/discouraged and often sick and (resentful/thinking that what has happened to them is unfair).
18 Ainsi donc il m’a paru bon qu’un homme mange et boive, et qu’il goûte la joie du travail dans lequel il s’est fatigué lui-même sous le soleil, durant le nombre des jours de sa vie que lui a donnés Dieu; car c’est là sa part.
So, the best thing for people to do here on the earth during the few years that God allows them to be alive is to eat and drink and to enjoy their work, because those are the things that God has given to them.
19 Et pour tout homme à qui Dieu a donné des richesses et du bien, et à qui il a accordé le pouvoir d’en manger, et de jouir, de prendre sa part et de se réjouir de son travail, cela est un don de Dieu.
If people are rich and have a lot of possessions, and are able to (enjoy/be happy with) the things that they have and to enjoy their work, those things are [also] gifts from God.
20 Car il ne se souviendra pas beaucoup des jours de sa vie, parce que Dieu occupe son cœur de délices.
Those people do not worry much about [everything that has happened] during the time that they have been alive, because God enables them to be happy doing everything that they do.
