Ecclesiastes 3
1 Omnia tempus habent, et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub caelo.
Everything has its own time—a time for all that happens here:
2 Tempus nascendi, et tempus moriendi. Tempus plantandi, et tempus evellendi quod plantatum est.
A time of birth, and a time of death. A time of planting, and a time of harvest.
3 Tempus occidendi, et tempus sanandi: Tempus destruendi, et tempus aedificandi.
A time of killing, and a time of healing. A time of tearing down, and a time of building up.
4 Tempus flendi, et tempus ridendi. Tempus plangendi, et tempus saltandi.
A time of crying, and a time of laughing. A time of mourning, and a time of dancing.
5 Tempus spargendi lapides, et tempus colligendi. Tempus amplexandi, et tempus longe fieri ab amplexibus.
A time of throwing away stones, and a time of gathering up stones. A time of embracing, and a time of avoiding embracing.
6 Tempus acquirendi, et tempus perdendi. Tempus custodiendi, et tempus abiiciendi.
A time of searching, and a time of giving up searching. A time of keeping, and a time of throwing away.
7 Tempus scindendi, et tempus consuendi. Tempus tacendi, et tempus loquendi.
A time of tearing, and a time of mending. A time of keeping quiet, a time of speaking up.
8 Tempus dilectionis, et tempus odii. Tempus belli, et tempus pacis.
A time of loving, and a time of hating. A time of warfare, and a time of peace.
9 Quid habet amplius homo de labore suo?
So what do you get for all your hard work?
10 Vidi afflictionem, quam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut distendantur in ea.
I have examined what God gives us 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.
Everything God does is beautifully timed, and even though he has also placed the idea of eternity in our minds, we can't fully understand what God does from beginning to end.
12 Et cognovi quod non esset melius nisi laetari, et facere bene in vita sua.
I concluded that there's nothing better than being happy and looking for the good in life.
13 Omnis enim homo, qui comedit et bibit, et videt bonum de labore suo, hoc donum Dei est.
In addition everyone should eat and drink and enjoy their work—this is God's gift to us.
14 Didici quod omnia opera, quae fecit Deus, perseverent in perpetuum: non possumus eis quidquam addere, nec auferre, quae fecit Deus ut timeatur.
I also concluded that everything God does lasts forever: nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. God acts in this way so that people may stand in awe of him.
15 Quod factum est, ipsum permanet: quae futura sunt, iam fuerunt: et Deus instaurat quod abiit.
Whatever was, is; and whatever will be, has been, and God examines the whole of time.
16 Vidi sub sole in loco iudicii impietatem, et in loco iustitiae iniquitatem.
I also observed that here on earth there was evil even in the place where there was supposed to be justice; even where things were meant to be right, there was evil.
17 Et dixi in corde meo: Iustum, et impium iudicabit Deus, et tempus omnis rei tunc erit.
But then I thought to myself, “Ultimately God will judge both those who do right and those who do wrong, and every deed and action, at the appointed time.”
18 Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum, ut probaret eos Deus, et ostenderet similes esse bestiis.
I also thought to myself, “Regarding what happens to human beings—God proves to us that we're no better than animals.”
19 Idcirco unus interitus est hominis, et iumentorum, et aequa utriusque conditio: sicut moritur homo, sic et illa moriuntur: similiter spirant omnia, et nihil habet homo iumento amplius: cuncta subiacent vanitati,
For what happens to human beings is the same as what happens to animals—in the same way one dies, the other dies too. They all have the breath of life—so regarding any advantage human beings have over animals, there is none. Definitely this is very hard to understand!
20 et omnia pergunt ad unum locum: de terra facta sunt, et in terram pariter revertuntur.
They all end up in the same place—they all came from dust, and they all return to dust.
21 Quis novit si spiritus filiorum Adam ascendat sursum, et si spiritus iumentorum descendat deorsum?
Who really knows whether the breath of life of human beings goes up above, and the breath of life of animals goes down below to the earth?
22 Et deprehendi nihil esse melius quam laetari hominem in opere suo, et hanc esse partem illius. Quis enim eum adducet, ut post se futura cognoscat?
So I concluded that there's nothing better than for people to enjoy their work. This is what we are meant to do. For who can bring anyone back from the dead to show them what will happen after they die?
