Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a right/correct time for everything, a time for everything that we do in this world.
Toutes choses ont leur temps, et dans leurs limites elles passent toutes sous le ciel.
2 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.
Il est un temps de naître et un temps de mourir; Un temps de planter, et un temps d’arracher ce qui a été planté;
3 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.
Un temps de tuer, et un temps de guérir; Un temps d’abattre, et un temps de bâtir;
4 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].
Un temps de pleurer, et un temps de rire; Un temps de gémir, et un temps de sauter de joie;
5 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].
Un temps de disperser les pierres, et un temps de les rassembler; Un temps d’embrasser, et un temps de s’éloigner des embrassements;
6 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.
Un temps d’acquérir, et un temps de perdre; Un temps de garder, et un temps de rejeter;
7 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.
Un temps de déchirer, et un temps de coudre; Un temps de se taire, et un temps de parler;
8 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.
Un temps d’amour, et un temps de haine; Un temps de guerre, et un temps de paix;
9 (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]).
Quel avantage a l’homme de son travail?
10 I have seen the work that God has given people to do.
J’ai vu l’affliction qu’a donnée Dieu aux fils des hommes, pour qu’ils en soient tourmentés.
11 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.
Il a fait toutes choses bonnes en leur temps, et il a livré le monde à leurs disputes; en sorte que l’homme ne découvre pas l’œuvre que Dieu a opérée depuis le commencement jusqu’à la fin.
12 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.
Et j’ai reconnu qu’il n’y avait rien de mieux que de se réjouir et de faire le bien pendant sa vie.
13 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.
Car tout homme qui mange, boit et voit le bien de son travail, c’est un don de Dieu.
14 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.
J’ai appris que les œuvres que Dieu a faites persévèrent à perpétuité; nous ne pouvons rien ajouter ni rien retrancher aux choses que Dieu a faites afin qu’il soit craint.
15 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.
Ce qui a été fait demeure: les choses qui doivent être ont déjà été; et Dieu rétablit ce qui est passé.
16 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.
J’ai vu sous le soleil, dans le lieu du jugement, l’impiété; et, dans le lieu de la justice, l’iniquité.
17 [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.”
Et j’ai dit dans mon cœur: Dieu jugera le juste et l’impie, et ce sera alors le temps de toute chose.
18 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,
J’ai dit en mon cœur touchant les fils des hommes: Que Dieu les éprouve, et montre qu’ils sont semblables à des bêtes.
19 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.
C’est pour cela que le trépas est pour l’homme et pour les bêtes, et qu’égale est leur condition: comme l’homme meurt, ainsi elles meurent; de la même manière elles respirent toutes, et l’homme n’a rien de plus que la bête: toutes choses sont soumises à la vanité:
20 [People and animals] all die and are buried. We are all made of soil, and [when we die], our corpses become soil again.
Toutes choses vont vers un seul lieu: elles ont été faites de la terre, et elles retournent pareillement à la terre.
21 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.”
Qui sait si l’esprit des fils d’Adam monte en haut, et si l’esprit des bêtes descend en bas?
22 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.
Et j’ai trouvé que rien n’est meilleur pour l’homme que de se réjouir en son œuvre, et que c’est là sa part: car qui l’amènera à connaître les choses qui doivent arriver après lui?
