传道书 4
Chinese New Version (Simplified)
斗争劳碌都是虚空
4 我又看见日光之下所发生一切欺压的事：受欺压的流泪，却无人安慰他们；欺压他们的，手里握着权柄，因此无人安慰受欺压的。 2 我赞叹那已死的人，胜过那还活着的人。 3 那还没生下来的，就是还没看过日光之下所行的恶事的，比这两种人更有福。
4 我看见各样的劳碌和各样精巧的工作，都是出于人与人彼此的竞争。这也是虚空，也是捕风。 5 愚昧人抱着手，吃自己的肉。 6 一掌盛满安宁，胜过两手抓满劳碌捕风。
7 我又看到日光之下有一件虚空的事。 8 有人孤单无依，没有儿子，没有兄弟，仍劳碌不休，眼目也不以自己的财富为足。他问：“我劳劳碌碌，刻薄自己不去享受，是为谁呢？”
这也是虚空，是劳苦的担子。
9 二人胜过一人，因为他们一起的劳碌有美好的酬报。 10 如果一个跌倒，另一个可以把他的同伴扶起来。但一人孤身跌倒，没有别人把他扶起来，他就悲惨了。 11 还有，二人同睡，就都暖和；一人独睡，怎能暖和呢？ 12 有人能制伏孤身一人，如果有二人就挡得住他。三股合成的绳子，不容易扯断。
13 贫穷但有智慧的年轻人，胜过年老不再纳谏的愚昧王。 14 虽然他是从监狱出来，在自己的国中，又是出身贫寒，却起来作王。 15 我看见所有在日光之下行走的活人，都随从那取代老王的年轻人（“那取代老王的年轻人”或译：“那取代他的第二位年轻人”）。 16 所有的人民，就是他所统治的人民，多得无数；然而后来的人却不喜欢他。这实在也是虚空，也是捕风。
Ecclesiastes 4
EasyEnglish Bible
Other things that have no purpose[a]
4 I saw again all the ways that people are cruel on the earth.
I saw some people who were crying because cruel people were hurting them.
There was nobody who could help them.
Nobody could rescue them from those cruel people.
2 I thought about people who are already dead.
I decided that they are happier than the people who are still alive.
3 But people who have not yet been born are even happier!
They have not seen the evil things that happen on the earth.
4 I also thought about the clever work that people do. I saw that people work hard because they are jealous of each other. They want to do better than other people. I realized that this has no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
5 Foolish people refuse to work.
They sit and they do nothing.
So they become hungry and they die.
6 It is good to have only a little food and be happy.
That is better than too much hard work that gives you a lot of food.
It is as useless as somebody who tries to catch the wind.
7 I thought about something else on the earth that has no purpose.
8 There are people who live alone.
They have no friends, children or brothers.
They work hard every day.
They want to get more riches for themselves.
But they are never happy with the things that they have.
They should ask themselves, ‘Why am I working so hard?
Am I helping anybody?
I am not doing things that make me happy.’
Their work has no purpose. It only brings trouble to their lives.
9 Two people who work together
are better than one person who works alone.
They can help each other to work well.
10 If one of them falls down,
his friend can help him to get up.
But it is terrible if you fall down when you are alone.
There is nobody who can help you to stand up again.
11 Also, if two people sleep together,
they help each other to be warm.
But if you sleep alone,
it is difficult to be warm.
12 If you are alone, one person might attack you and hurt you.
But two people together can help each other to win the fight.
If you use three strings to make a rope,
it is difficult for anyone to break it.
13 A young man may be very poor. But if he is wise, he is better than a king who is foolish. When the king is old, he may not listen to his friends' advice. 14 A young man who is wise may even become king himself one day. He may have been in prison. He may have been born in a poor family in that kingdom. But he may later rule there as king.
15 I thought about all the people who live on the earth. I realized that one of them would also become king one day. He would rule instead of the other young man who became king. 16 Large crowds of people give him honour as their king. But in future years, nobody will praise him. I realized that this has no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
Footnotes
- 4:1 In chapters 4-10, the Teacher thinks about different things that happen on the earth. He is trying to understand why they seem to have no purpose. He says that we should enjoy the good things that God gives to us.
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