伝道者の書 6
1 わたしは日の下に一つの悪のあるのを見た。これは人々の上に重い。
I have seen something [else here] on this earth that troubles people.
2 すなわち神は富と、財産と、誉とを人に与えて、その心に慕うものを、一つも欠けることのないようにされる。しかし神は、その人にこれを持つことを許されないで、他人がこれを持つようになる。これは空である。悪しき病である。
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.
3 たとい人は百人の子をもうけ、また命長く、そのよわいの日が多くても、その心が幸福に満足せず、また葬られることがなければ、わたしは言う、流産の子はその人にまさると。
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.
4 これはむなしく来て、暗やみの中に去って行き、その名は暗やみにおおわれる。
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.
5 またこれは日を見ず、物を知らない。けれどもこれは彼よりも安らかである。
It does not [live to] see the sun or know anything. But it finds more rest than rich people do [who are alive].
6 たとい彼は千年に倍するほど生きても幸福を見ない。みな一つ所に行くのではないか。
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].
7 人の労苦は皆、その口のためである。しかしその食欲は満たされない。
People work hard to [earn enough money to buy] food to eat [MTY], but [often] they never get enough to eat.
8 賢い者は愚かな者になんのまさるところがあるか。また生ける者の前に歩むことを知る貧しい者もなんのまさるところがあるか。
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.
9 目に見る事は欲望のさまよい歩くにまさる。これもまた空であって、風を捕えるようなものである。
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.
10 今あるものは、すでにその名がつけられた。そして人はいかなる者であるかは知られた。それで人は自分よりも力強い者と争うことはできない。
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.
11 言葉が多ければむなしい事も多い。人になんの益があるか。
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.
12 人はその短く、むなしい命の日を影のように送るのに、何が人のために善であるかを知ることができよう。だれがその身の後に、日の下に何があるであろうかを人に告げることができるか。
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].
