伝道者の書 7
1 良き名は良き油にまさり、死ぬる日は生るる日にまさる。
[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 悲しみの家にはいるのは、宴会の家にはいるのにまさる。死はすべての人の終りだからである。生きている者は、これを心にとめる。
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 悲しみは笑いにまさる。顔に憂いをもつことによって、心は良くなるからである。
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 賢い者の心は悲しみの家にあり、愚かな者の心は楽しみの家にある。
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 賢い者の戒めを聞くのは、愚かな者の歌を聞くのにまさる。
It is better to pay attention to [someone who is wise] you than to listen to the songs of a foolish person.
6 愚かな者の笑いはかまの下に燃えるいばらの音のようである。これもまた空である。
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 たしかに、しえたげは賢い人を愚かにし、まいないは人の心をそこなう。
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 事の終りはその初めよりも良い。耐え忍ぶ心は、おごり高ぶる心にまさる。
Finishing something is better than starting something, and being patient is better than being proud.
9 気をせきたてて怒るな。怒りは愚かな者の胸に宿るからである。
Do not quickly (lose your temper/react to things angrily), because it is foolish people [SYN] who become very angry.
10 「昔が今よりもよかったのはなぜか」と言うな。あなたがこれを問うのは知恵から出るのではない。
Do not say, “Things were a lot better [RHQ] previously,” because it is people who are not wise who say that.
11 知恵に財産が伴うのは良い。それは日を見る者どもに益がある。
Being wise is better than inheriting [valuable things]; being wise provides lasting benefits for every person on the earth [MTY].
12 知恵が身を守るのは、金銭が身を守るようである。しかし、知恵はこれを持つ者に生命を保たせる。これが知識のすぐれた所である。
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 神のみわざを考えみよ。神の曲げられたものを、だれがまっすぐにすることができるか。
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 順境の日には楽しめ、逆境の日には考えよ。神は人に将来どういう事があるかを、知らせないために、彼とこれとを等しく造られたのである。
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 わたしはこのむなしい人生において、もろもろの事を見た。そこには義人がその義によって滅びることがあり、悪人がその悪によって長生きすることがある。
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 あなたは義に過ぎてはならない。また賢きに過ぎてはならない。あなたはどうして自分を滅ぼしてよかろうか。
[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 悪に過ぎてはならない。また愚かであってはならない。あなたはどうして、自分の時のこないのに、死んでよかろうか。
If you do what is evil or do what is foolish, you might die while you are still young.
18 あなたがこれを執るのはよい、また彼から手を引いてはならない。神をかしこむ者は、このすべてからのがれ出るのである。
Continue to avoid doing what is evil and doing what is foolish; avoid doing both of those things by continually revering God.
19 知恵が知者を強くするのは、十人のつかさが町におるのにまさる。
If you are wise, you will be more powerful/influential than the ten most powerful/influential men in your city.
20 善を行い、罪を犯さない正しい人は世にいない。
There is no one in this world who [always] does what is right and who never sins.
21 人の語るすべての事に心をとめてはならない。これはあなたが、自分のしもべのあなたをのろう言葉を聞かないためである。
Do not pay attention [IDM] to everything that people say, because if you do that, you might hear your servant cursing you.
22 あなたもまた、しばしば他人をのろったのを自分の心に知っているからである。
You know that you have also cursed other people.
23 わたしは知恵をもってこのすべての事を試みて、「わたしは知者となろう」と言ったが、遠く及ばなかった。
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 物事の理は遠く、また、はなはだ深い。だれがこれを見いだすことができよう。
Wisdom seems to be far from me; there is no one [RHQ] who can truly understand everything.
25 わたしは、心を転じて、物を知り、事を探り、知恵と道理を求めようとし、また悪の愚かなこと、愚痴の狂気であることを知ろうとした。
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 わたしは、その心が、わなと網のような女、その手が、かせのような女は、死よりも苦い者であることを見いだした。神を喜ばす者は彼女からのがれる。しかし罪びとは彼女に捕えられる。
[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 伝道者は言う、見よ、その数を知ろうとして、いちいち数えて、わたしが得たものはこれである。
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 わたしはなおこれを求めたけれども、得なかった。わたしは千人のうちにひとりの男子を得たけれども、そのすべてのうちに、ひとりの女子をも得なかった。
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 見よ、わたしが得た事は、ただこれだけである。すなわち、神は人を正しい者に造られたけれども、人は多くの計略を考え出した事である。
[But] I did learn one thing: When God created people, they were righteous, but they have found many ways to do many evil things.
