Ecclesiastes 6
1 I have seen something [else here] on this earth that troubles people.
Il est un mal que j’ai vu sous le soleil, et ce mal est grand sur l’homme:
2 God enables some people to get a lot of money and possessions and to be honored; they have everything [LIT] that they want. But God [sometimes] does not allow them to continue to enjoy those things. Someone else gets them and enjoys them. That seems senseless and unfair.
Tel homme à qui Dieu a donné richesses, trésors et gloire, et qui ne manque pour son âme de rien de ce qu’il peut désirer; mais Dieu ne lui permet pas d’en jouir, car c’est un étranger qui en jouit: voilà une vanité et un mal grave.
3 Someone might have 100 children and live for many years. But if he is not able to enjoy the things that he has acquired, and if he is not buried [properly after he dies], [I say that] a child that is dead when it is born is more fortunate.
Quand un homme aurait engendré cent fils, eût vécu de nombreuses années, et que les jours de ses années se seraient multipliés, si son âme ne s’est pas rassasiée de bonheur, et qu’il n’ait pas même eu de sépulture, je dis qu’un avorton est plus heureux que lui.
4 That dead baby’s birth is meaningless; it does not even have a name. It goes directly to the place where there is only darkness.
Car il est venu en vain, il s’en va dans les ténèbres, et les ténèbres couvriront son nom;
5 It does not [live to] see the sun or know anything. But it finds more rest than rich people do [who are alive].
il n’a même ni vu ni connu le soleil, il a plus de repos que cet homme.
6 Even if people could live for 2,000 years, if they do not enjoy the things that God gives to them, [it would have been better for them never to have been born]. [All people who live a long time] certainly [RHQ] all go to the same place— [to the grave].
Et quand il vivrait deux fois mille ans, sans jouir du bonheur, tout ne va-t-il pas au même lieu?
7 People work hard to [earn enough money to buy] food to eat [MTY], but [often] they never get enough to eat.
Tout le travail de l’homme est pour sa bouche; mais ses désirs ne sont jamais satisfaits.
8 So it seems that [RHQ] wise people do not receive more lasting benefits than foolish people do. And it seems that [RHQ] poor people do not benefit from knowing how to conduct their lives.
Car quel avantage a le sage sur l’insensé? Quel avantage a le pauvre qui sait se conduire devant les vivants?
9 It is better to enjoy the things that we already have [MTY] than to constantly want more things; continually wanting more things is [senseless], [like] the wind.
Ce que les yeux voient est préférable à la divagation des désirs. Cela encore est vanité et poursuite du vent.
10 All the things that exist [on the earth] have been given names. And everyone knows what people are like, [so] it is useless to argue with someone (OR, with God) who is stronger than we are.
De toute chose qui arrive, le nom est déjà prononcé; on sait ce que sera un homme, et il ne peut contester avec qui est plus fort que lui.
11 The more [that we] talk, the more [often we say things that are] senseless, so it certainly does not [RHQ] benefit us to talk a lot.
Car il y a beaucoup de paroles qui ne font qu’accroître la vanité: quel avantage en revient-il à l’homme?
12 We live for only a short time; we disappear like [SIM] a shadow disappears [in the sunlight]. No one [RHQ] knows what is best for us while we are alive, and no one [RHQ] knows what will happen to us after we die [EUP].
Car qui sait, en effet, ce qui est bon pour l’homme dans la vie, pendant les jours de sa vie de vanité, qu’il passe comme une ombre? Et qui peut indiquer à l’homme ce qui sera après lui sous le soleil?
