| 訓道篇 | Ecclesiastes |
|---|
| 1有誰相似智者，有誰會解釋事理？智慧使人的面容煥發，使嚴肅的容貌變為溫和。 | 1Who is like the wise man, and who knows the explanation of things? A man's wisdom illumines his face, but an impudent look is resented. |
| 2為了向天主起的誓，你應遵守君王的命令； | 2Observe the precept of the king, and in view of your oath to God, |
| 3你不可由他面前倉猝離去；也不可行惡，因為凡他喜歡的事，都可隨意執行。 | 3be not hasty to withdraw from the king; do not join in with a base plot, for he does whatever he pleases, |
| 4原來君王的話具有威力，誰敢向他說：「你做什麼？」 | 4because his word is sovereign, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?" |
| 5遵守誡命的，不會遇到災禍；智者的心能辨識時機和審斷。 | 5"He who keeps the commandment experiences no evil, and the wise man's heart knows times and judgments; |
| 6的確，事事都有定時和定案；但重大的負擔仍壓在人身上， | 6for there is a time and a judgment for everything."--Yet it is a great affliction for man |
| 7因為人不知道將來要發生什麼事，有誰能告訢他，何時要發生？ | 7that he is ignorant of what is to come; for who will make known to him how it will be? |
| 8沒有人有權將生氣保留不失，也沒有人能支配死期；戰場上沒有人能退役，邪惡救不了作惡的人。 | 8There is no man who is master of the breath of life so as to retain it, and none has mastery of the day of death. There is no exemption from the struggle, nor are the wicked saved by their wickedness. |
| 9我看見了這一切，專心研究在太陽下所行的一切事：有時統治人的人，自受其害； | 9All these things I considered and I applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun, while one man tyrannizes over another to his hurt. |
| 10有時我看見惡人被抬去安葬，而行義的人卻離開聖處，而在城中被人遺忘：這也是虛幻。 | 10 Meanwhile I saw wicked men approach and enter; and as they left the sacred place, they were praised in the city for what they had done. This also is vanity. |
| 11因為懲惡的定案未有迅速執行，世人因此充滿了行惡的偏向。 | 11Because the sentence against evildoers is not promptly executed, therefore the hearts of men are filled with the desire to commit evil-- |
| 12惡人雖百次行惡，仍享長壽，姑且不論；我確實知道，那敬畏天主的人，因他們在天主前起敬起畏，必得幸福； | 12because the sinner does evil a hundred times and survives. Though indeed I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, for their reverence toward him; |
| 13而惡人必得不到幸福，他的時日如影，決不能久長，因為他不敬畏天主。 | 13 and that it shall not be well with the wicked man, and he shall not prolong his shadowy days, for his lack of reverence toward God. |
| 14在世上還有一件虛幻的事：就是義人所遭遇的，反如惡人所應得的；而惡人所遭遇的，反如義人所應得的；我逐說：這也是虛幻。 | 14This is a vanity which occurs on earth: there are just men treated as though they had done evil and wicked men treated as though they had done justly. This, too, I say is vanity. |
| 15為此，我稱讚快樂，因為在太陽下，人除了吃喝行樂外，別無幸福；因為這是人在天主賞他在太陽下的一生歲月內，從他的勞苦中，所獲得的幸福。 | 15 Therefore I commend mirth, because there is nothing good for man under the sun except eating and drinking and mirth: for this is the accompaniment of his toil during the limited days of the life which God gives him under the sun. |
| 16當我專心追求智慧，觀察人在世上，連黑夜白日都不能閉目安眠，所行的工作時， | 16When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to observe what is done on earth, |
| 17我面對天主的一切作為，發覺人決不能知道在太陽下所發生的一切事。人雖然努力研究，終歸無法得知；縱然有智者以為知道了，仍是一無所知。 | 17I recognized that man is unable to find out all God's work that is done under the sun, even though neither by day nor by night do his eyes find rest in sleep. However much man toils in searching, he does not find it out; and even if the wise man says that he knows, he is unable to find it out. |
