传道书 12
Chinese New Version (Simplified)
12 在你壮年的日子，当记念你的创造主。不要等到衰败的日子，就是你所说：“我毫无喜乐”的那些年日临到， 2 日头、光明、月亮、星宿变暗，雨后乌云再现的时候。 3 那时，看守房子的发抖，强壮的弯腰，推磨的稀少，都停了工，往窗外看的都昏暗了， 4 当街的门口关闭，推磨的声音微弱。雀鸟一叫，人就起来。唱歌的歌声（“歌声”原文作“女子”）都低微。 5 人怕高处，怕路上有惊吓。杏树开花，蚱蜢蹒跚而行，催情果失效。因为人归他永远的家，哭丧的在街上游行。 6 银炼断掉，金碗破裂，瓶子在泉旁破碎，打水的轮子在井边破烂。 7 尘土要归回原来之地，灵要归回赐灵的 神。 8 传道者说：“虚空的虚空，一切都是虚空。”
结论：敬畏 神，谨守诫命
9 传道者不但有智慧，还将知识教训众人；他既揣摩，又查考，也编撰了许多箴言。 10 传道者搜寻可喜悦的话，正确地写下真理。
11 智慧人的言语像刺棒，他们所汇集的箴言像钉牢的钉子，都是一位牧者所赐的。 12 我儿，还有，你当受劝勉：著书多，没有穷尽；读书多，身体疲倦。
13 你们一切都听见了，总而言之，应当敬畏 神，谨守他的诫命，因为这是每一个人的本分。 14 人所作的每一件事，连一切隐藏的事，无论是善是恶， 神都必审问。
Ecclesiastes 12
Easy-to-Read Version
The Problems of Old Age
12 Remember your Creator while you are young, before the bad times come—before the years come when you say, “I have wasted my life.”[a]
2 Remember your Creator while you are young, before the time comes when the sun and the moon and the stars become dark to you—before problems come again and again like one storm after another.
3 At that time your arms will lose their strength. Your legs will become weak and bent. Your teeth will fall out, and you will not be able to chew your food. Your eyes will not see clearly. 4 You will become hard of hearing. You will not hear the noise in the streets. Even the stone grinding your grain will seem quiet to you. You will not be able to hear the women singing. But even the sound of a bird singing will wake you early in the morning because you will not be able to sleep.
5 You will be afraid of high places. You will be afraid of tripping over every small thing in your path. Your hair will become white like the flowers on an almond tree. You will drag yourself along like a grasshopper when you walk. You will lose your desire,[b] and then you will go to your eternal home. The mourners will gather in the streets as they carry your body to the grave.
Death
6 Remember your Creator while you are young,
before the silver rope snaps and the golden bowl is crushed
like a jar broken at the well,
like a stone cover on a well that breaks and falls in.
7 Your body came from the earth.
And when you die, it will return to the earth.
But your spirit came from God,
and when you die, it will return to him.
8 Everything is so meaningless. The Teacher says that it is all a waste of time![c]
Final Words of Advice
9 The Teacher was very wise. He used his wisdom to teach the people. He very carefully studied and arranged[d] many wise teachings. 10 The Teacher tried very hard to find the right words, and he wrote the teachings that are true and dependable.
11 Words from the wise are like sharp goads. When these sayings are written down and saved, they can be used to guide people, just as a shepherd uses a sharp stick to make his sheep go the right way. 12 So, son, study these sayings, but be careful about other teachings. People are always writing books, and too much study will make you very tired.
13-14 Now, what should we learn from everything that is written in this book?[e] The most important thing a person can do is to respect God and obey his commands, because he knows about everything people do—even the secret things. He knows about all the good and all the bad, and he will judge people for everything they do.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 12:1 I have wasted my life Literally, “I take no pleasure in them.” This might mean “I don’t like the things I did when I was young” or “I don’t enjoy life now that I am old.”
- Ecclesiastes 12:5 desire Or “appetite” or “sexual desire.” The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
- Ecclesiastes 12:8 meaningless … a waste of time The Hebrew word means “vapor,” “breath,” or “something that is useless, meaningless, empty, wrong, or a waste of time.”
- Ecclesiastes 12:9 arranged This Hebrew word means “to make straight,” “arrange,” “correct,” or “edit.”
- Ecclesiastes 12:13 Now … book Literally, “The sum of the matter, when all is heard, is ….”
Ecclesiastes 12
King James Version
12 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International