传道书 3
Chinese New Version (Traditional)
神規劃萬事叫人敬畏他
3 萬事都有定期，天下萬務都有定時：
2 生有時，死有時；
栽種有時，拔出所種的也有時；
3 殺戮有時，醫治有時；
拆毀有時，建造有時；
4 哭有時，笑有時；
哀慟有時，踴躍有時；
5 拋擲石頭有時，堆聚石頭有時；
擁抱有時，避免擁抱有時；
6 尋找有時，捨棄有時；
保存有時，拋棄有時；
7 撕裂有時，縫補有時；
靜默有時，講話有時；
8 愛有時，恨有時；
戰爭有時，和平有時。
9 作工的人在自己的勞碌上得到甚麼益處呢？ 10 我看 神給予世人的擔子，是要他們為此煩惱。 11 他使萬事各按其時，成為美好；他又把永恆的意識放在人的心裡；雖然這樣，人還是不能察覺 神自始至終的作為。 12 我曉得人生最好是尋樂享福， 13 人人有吃有喝，在自己的一切勞碌中自得其樂；這就是 神的恩賜。 14 我知道 神所作的一切，都必永存，無可增添，無可減少； 神這樣作，為要使人在他面前存敬畏的心。 15 現在有的，先前就有；將來有的，早已有了；因為 神使已過的事重新出現（“使已過的事重新出現”直譯是“尋找被追趕的”）。
神的審判都有定時
16 我在日光之下又看見：審判的地方有奸惡，維護公義的地方也有奸惡。 17 我自己心裡說：“ 神必審判義人和惡人，因為各樣事務、各樣工作都有定時。” 18 我自己心裡說：“至於世人， 神要試驗他們，使他們看見自己與牲畜無異。 19 因為世人所遭遇的與牲畜所遭遇的，都是一樣：這個怎樣死，那個也怎樣死，兩者的氣息都是一樣，所以人並不勝於牲畜。一切都是虛空。 20 大家都到一個地方去，都出於塵土，也都歸回塵土。 21 有誰知道人的靈是往上升，牲畜的魂（“魂”的原文與“靈”〔3:21〕和“氣息”〔3:19〕相同）是下降而入地呢？” 22 因此我看人最好是在自己所作的事上自得其樂，因為這也是他的分；誰能使他看見他自己死後的事呢？
Ecclesiastes 3
Common English Bible
A season for everything
3 There’s a season for everything
and a time for every matter under the heavens:
2 a time for giving birth and a time for dying,
a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted,
3 a time for killing and a time for healing,
a time for tearing down and a time for building up,
4 a time for crying and a time for laughing,
a time for mourning and a time for dancing,
5 a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,
a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,
6 a time for searching and a time for losing,
a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,
7 a time for tearing and a time for repairing,
a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,
8 a time for loving and a time for hating,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Hard work
9 What do workers gain from all their hard work? 10 I have observed the task that God has given human beings. 11 God has made everything fitting in its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there’s nothing better for them but to enjoy themselves and do what’s good while they live. 13 Moreover, this is the gift of God: that all people should eat, drink, and enjoy the results of their hard work. 14 I know that whatever God does will last forever; it’s impossible to add to it or take away from it. God has done this so that people are reverent before him.[a] 15 Whatever happens has already happened, and whatever will happen has already happened before. And God looks after what is driven away.[b]
Enjoy what you do now
16 I saw something else under the sun: in the place of justice, there was wickedness; and in the place of what was right, there was wickedness again! 17 I thought to myself, God will judge both righteous and wicked people, because there’s a time for every matter and every deed. 18 I also thought, Where human beings are concerned, God tests them to show them that they are but animals 19 because human beings and animals share the same fate. One dies just like the other—both have the same life-breath. Humans are no better off than animals because everything is pointless.
20 All go to the same place:
all are from the dust;
all return to the dust.
21 Who knows if a human being’s life-breath rises upward while an animal’s life-breath descends into the earth? 22 So I perceived that there was nothing better for human beings but to enjoy what they do because that’s what they’re allotted in life. Who, really, is able to see what will happen in the future?
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:14 Or to inspire awe before the divine
- Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God seeks out what is pursued, or God seeks what has gone by, or God seeks the pursued; Heb uncertain
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible