Eclesiastés 3
1 Para todas las cosas hay sazón, y toda voluntad debajo del cielo, tiene su tiempo determinado:
There is a right/correct time for everything, a time for everything that we do in this world.
2 Tiempo de nacer, y tiempo de morir; tiempo de plantar, y tiempo de arrancar lo plantado;
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 tiempo de matar, y tiempo de curar; tiempo de destruir, y tiempo de edificar;
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 tiempo de llorar, y tiempo de reir; tiempo de endechar, y tiempo de bailar;
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 tiempo de esparcir las piedras, y tiempo de allegar las piedras; tiempo de abrazar, y tiempo de alejarse de abrazar;
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 tiempo de buscar, y tiempo de perder; tiempo de guardar, y tiempo de desechar;
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 tiempo de romper, y tiempo de coser; tiempo de callar, y tiempo de hablar;
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 tiempo de amar, y tiempo de aborrecer; tiempo de guerra, y tiempo de paz.
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 ¿Qué provecho tiene el que trabaja en lo que trabaja?
(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 Yo he visto la ocupación que Dios ha dado a los hijos de los hombres para que en ella se ocupasen.
I have seen the work that God has given people to do.
11 Todo lo hizo hermoso en su tiempo; y aun el mundo les entregó a su voluntad, de tal manera que no alcance el hombre esta obra de Dios desde el principio hasta el fin.
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 Yo he conocido que no hay mejor para ellos, que alegrarse, y hacer bien en su vida.
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 Y también he conocido que es don de Dios que todo hombre coma y beba, y goce el bien de todo su trabajo.
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 He entendido que todo lo que Dios hace, esto será perpetuo; sobre aquello no se añadirá, ni de ello se disminuirá; porque Dios lo hace, para que delante de él teman los hombres.
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 Aquello que fue, ya es: y lo que será, fue ya; y Dios buscará lo que pasó.
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 Vi más debajo del sol: en lugar del juicio, allí la impiedad; y en lugar de la justicia, allí la iniquidad.
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 Y dije yo en mi corazón: Al justo y al impío juzgará Dios; porque hay un tiempo determinado de juzgar a toda voluntad y sobre todo lo que se hace.
[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 Dije en mi corazón, en orden a la condición de los hijos de los hombres, que Dios los puede manifestar, y es para ver que ellos son bestias los unos a los otros.
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 Porque el suceso de los hijos de los hombres, y el suceso del animal, el mismo suceso es: como mueren los unos, así mueren los otros; y una misma respiración tienen todos; ni tiene más el hombre que la bestia; porque todo es vanidad.
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 Todo va a un lugar; todo es hecho del polvo, y todo volverá al mismo polvo.
[People and animals] all die and are buried. We are all made of soil, and [when we die], our corpses become soil again.
21 ¿Quién sabe que el espíritu de los hijos de los hombres suba arriba, y que el espíritu del animal descienda debajo de la tierra?
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 Así que he visto que no hay cosa mejor que alegrarse el hombre con lo que hiciere; porque esta es su parte; porque ¿quién lo llevará para que vea lo que será después de él?
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.
