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 a wise man? Who knows what the events in life mean? Wisdom in a man causes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 我勸你遵守王的命令；既指上帝起誓，理當如此。
I advise you to obey the king's command because of God's oath to protect him.
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 hurry out of his presence, and do not stand in support of something wrong, for the king does whatever he desires.
4 王的話本有權力，誰敢問他說「你做甚麼」呢？
The king's word rules, so who will 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。
Whoever keeps the king's commands avoids harm. A wise man's heart recognizes the proper course and time of action.
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 every matter there is a correct response and a time to respond, because the troubles of man are great.
7 他不知道將來的事，因為將來如何，誰能告訴他呢？
No one knows what is coming next. Who can tell him what is coming?
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。
No one is ruler over his breath so as to stop the breath, and no one has power over the day of his death. No one is discharged from the army during a battle, and wickedness will not rescue those who are its slaves.
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。
I have realized all this; I have applied my heart to every kind of work that is done under the sun. There is a time when a person oppresses another person to that person's hurt.
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。
So I saw the wicked buried publicly. They were taken from the holy area and buried and were praised by people in the city where they had done their wicked deeds. This also is uselessness.
11 因為斷定罪名不立刻施刑，所以世人滿心作惡。
When a sentence against an evil crime is not executed quickly, it entices the hearts of human beings to do evil.
12 罪人雖然作惡百次，倒享長久的年日；然而我準知道，敬畏上帝的，就是在他面前敬畏的人，終久必得福樂。
Even though a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives a long time, yet I know that it will be better for those who respect God, for those who stand before him and show him respect.
13 惡人卻不得福樂，也不得長久的年日；這年日好像影兒，因他不敬畏上帝。
But it will not go well for a wicked man; his life will not be prolonged. His days are like a fleeting shadow because he does not honor God.
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 another useless vapor—something else that is done on the earth. Things happen to righteous people as they happen to wicked people, and things happen to wicked people as they happen to righteous people. I say that this also is useless vapor.
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，上帝賜他一生的年日，要從勞碌中，時常享受所得的。
So I recommend happiness, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and drink and to be happy. It is happiness that will accompany him in his labor for all the days of his life that God has given 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 heart to know wisdom and to understand the work that is done on the earth, work often done without sleep for the eyes at night or in the day,
17 我就看明上帝一切的作為，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。
then I considered all of God's deeds, and that man cannot understand the work that is done under the sun. No matter how much a man labors to find the answers, he will not find them. Even though a wise man might believe he knows, he really does not.
