Ecclesiastes 3
1 Omnia tempus habent, et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub cælo.
There is a right/correct time for everything, a time for everything that we do in this world.
2 Tempus nascendi, et tempus moriendi. Tempus plantandi, et tempus evellendi quod plantatum est.
There is a time to be born, and there is a time to die. There is a time to plant [seeds], and there is a time to harvest crops.
3 Tempus occidendi, et tempus sanandi. Tempus destruendi, et tempus ædificandi.
There is a time to kill [people], and there is a time to heal [people]. There is a time to tear things down, and there is a time to build things.
4 Tempus flendi, et tempus ridendi. Tempus plangendi, et tempus saltandi.
There is a time to cry, and there is a time to laugh. There is a time to mourn, and there is a time to dance [joyfully].
5 Tempus spargendi lapides, et tempus colligendi. Tempus amplexandi, et tempus longe fieri ab amplexibus.
There is a time to throw away stones [from a field], and there is a time to gather stones [to build walls/houses]. There is a time to embrace [people], and there is a time to not embrace [people].
6 Tempus acquirendi, et tempus perdendi. Tempus custodiendi, et tempus abiiciendi.
There is a time to search for things, and there is a time to stop searching for things. There is a time to keep/save things, and there is a time to throw things away.
7 Tempus scindendi, et tempus consuendi. Tempus tacendi, et tempus loquendi.
There is a time to tear [our old clothes], and there is a time to mend [clothes]. There is a time to say nothing, and there is a time when we should speak.
8 Tempus dilectionis, et tempus odii. Tempus belli, et tempus pacis.
There is a time when we should love [things that people do], and there is a time when we should hate [things that people do]. There is a time for war, and there is a time for peace.
9 Quid habet amplius homo de labore suo?
(What do people gain from all the work that they do?/It seems that people gain very little from all the work that they do [RHQ]).
10 Vidi afflictionem, quam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut distendantur in ea.
I have seen the work that God has given people to do.
11 Cuncta fecit bona in tempore suo, et mundum tradidit disputationi eorum, ut non inveniat homo opus, quod operatus est Deus ab initio usque ad finem.
God has appointed a time that is right/correct for everything to happen. He has [also] caused people to realize that there are things that will endure forever. But in spite of that, no one can completely understand everything that God has done, from the time that he starts doing things until he finishes them.
12 Et cognovi quod non esset melius nisi lætari, et facere bene in vita sua.
I know that the best [LIT] thing for us people to do is to rejoice and to do good things [all] during the time that we are alive.
13 Omnis enim homo, qui comedit et bibit, et videt bonum de labore suo, hoc donum Dei est.
And I also know that everyone should eat and drink, and enjoy the work that they do. Those are things that God gives to us.
14 Didici quod omnia opera, quæ fecit Deus, perseverent in perpetuum: non possumus eis quidquam addere, nec auferre, quæ fecit Deus ut timeatur.
I [also] know that what God does endures forever. No one can add to what God does, and no one can take away from the things that God does. God does those things in order that people would revere him.
15 Quod factum est, ipsum permanet: quæ futura sunt, iam fuerunt: et Deus instaurat quod abiit.
Things that exist now have already existed previously, and things that will happen in the future have already happened previously; God causes the same things to happen many times.
16 Vidi sub sole in loco iudicii impietatem, et in loco iustitiæ iniquitatem.
Furthermore, I saw that on this earth [MTY], even in the courts where we expect judges to make right decisions about what people had done, they did many wicked [DOU] things.
17 Et dixi in corde meo: Iustum, et impium iudicabit Deus, et tempus omnis rei tunc erit.
[So] I said to myself [SYN], “God will judge [both] righteous [people] and wicked [people]; there is a time [for him to do that], because there is a time for him to do everything.”
18 Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum, ut probaret eos Deus, et ostenderet similes esse bestiis.
And regarding humans, I [also] said to myself, “God is testing us, to show us that [in one way] people are no different than animals,
19 Idcirco unus interitus est hominis, et iumentorum, et æqua utriusque conditio: sicut moritur homo, sic et illa moriuntur: similiter spirant omnia, et nihil habet homo iumento amplius: cuncta subiacent vanitati,
because what happens to people happens to animals. Animals die, and people die. We all must breathe [to remain alive]. [With regard to that], people have no advantage over animals, so I have a difficult time understanding that.
20 et omnia pergunt ad unum locum: de terra facta sunt, et in terram pariter revertuntur.
[People and animals] all die and are buried. We are all made of soil, and [when we die], our corpses become soil again.
21 Quis novit si spiritus filiorum Adam ascendat sursum, et si spiritus iumentorum descendat deorsum?
No one knows [RHQ] for sure that when we die, our souls/spirits go up to heaven and the souls/spirits of animals go down to the place where the dead are.”
22 Et deprehendi nihil esse melius quam lætari hominem in opere suo, et hanc esse partem illius. Quis enim eum adducet, ut post se futura cognoscat?
So I concluded that the best thing for [us] people to do is to be happy about the work that we do, because that is what God has given to us. I say that because no one of us [RHQ] knows what happens to us after we die.
