傳道書 8

¹誰如智慧人呢？誰知道事情的解釋呢？人的智慧使他的臉發光，並使他臉上的暴氣改變。Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

²我勸你遵守王的命令；既指　神起誓，理當如此。Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.

³不要急躁離開王的面前，不要固執行惡，因為他凡事都隨自己的心意而行。Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

⁴王的話本有權力，誰敢問他說「你做甚麼」呢？For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵凡遵守命令的，必不經歷禍患；智慧人的心能辨明時候和定理（原文是審判；下節同）。Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

⁶各樣事務成就都有時候和定理，因為人的苦難重壓在他身上。For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.

⁷他不知道將來的事，因為將來如何，誰能告訴他呢？Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?

⁸無人有權力掌管生命，將生命留住；也無人有權力掌管死期；這場爭戰，無人能免；邪惡也不能救那好行邪惡的人。As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁹這一切我都見過，也專心查考日光之下所做的一切事。有時這人管轄那人，令人受害。All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.

¹⁰我見惡人埋葬，歸入墳墓；又見行正直事的離開聖地，在城中被人忘記。這也是虛空。Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.

¹¹因為斷定罪名不立刻施刑，所以世人滿心作惡。When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.

¹²罪人雖然作惡百次，倒享長久的年日；然而我準知道，敬畏　神的，就是在他面前敬畏的人，終久必得福樂。Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.

¹³惡人卻不得福樂，也不得長久的年日；這年日好像影兒，因他不敬畏　神。Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴世上有一件虛空的事，就是義人所遭遇的，反照惡人所行的；又有惡人所遭遇的，反照義人所行的。我說，這也是虛空。There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

¹⁵我就稱讚快樂，原來人在日光之下，莫強如吃喝快樂；因為他在日光之下，　神賜他一生的年日，要從勞碌中，時常享受所得的。So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶我專心求智慧，要看世上所做的事。（有晝夜不睡覺不合眼的。）When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—

¹⁷我就看明　神一切的作為，知道人查不出日光之下所做的事；任憑他費多少力尋查，都查不出來，就是智慧人雖想知道，也是查不出來。I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.