1Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
Obey the King
2Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
7Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
so8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own8:9 Or to their hurt. 10Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 15So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night— 17then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
1誰像有智慧的人呢？
誰知道事情的原委呢？
智慧能使人容光煥發，
使冷酷的面孔柔和。
2我勸你遵守王的命令，因為你曾在上帝面前這樣發誓。 3不要在王面前魯莽行事，也不要參與惡行，因為王可以隨意行事。 4況且，王的命令至高無上，誰敢質問他：「你在做什麼？」 5遵從王命的必免遭禍患，因為智者心裡懂得做事的時機和方法。 6儘管人面臨重重困難，但做任何事都有時機和方法。 7無人知道未來的事，誰能告訴人將來的事呢？ 8無人能掌管生命8·8 「生命」也可譯作「風」或「氣息」。，留住生命，也無人能掌管死期。無人能免於這場爭戰，邪惡也救不了作惡者。 9這一切我都見過了，我用心思考日光之下的一切事。有時人欺壓人，使人受傷害。 10我看見惡人死後被安葬。他們生前出入聖所，還在他們作惡的城中受到稱讚，這也是虛空。 11對犯罪者的刑罰不迅速執行，世人便盡情作惡。 12雖然罪人作惡多端仍得長壽，我卻認為敬畏上帝的人必亨通，因為他們對上帝心存敬畏。 13然而，惡人得不到祝福，他們必像幻影一樣不能長久，因為他們不敬畏上帝。
14世上有一件虛空的事，就是義人遭受了惡人當受的報應，惡人卻享受了義人該享的福樂。我認為這也是虛空。 15因此，我便讚賞享樂，因為在日光之下沒有什麼比吃喝快樂更好。這是人在上帝所賜的年日裡，從勞碌中當得的享受。 16我全心去尋求智慧，觀察世上所發生的事，甚至晝夜不眠， 17我看清了上帝的一切作為，便知道人無法理解日光之下所發生的事。儘管人努力不懈地去尋找，也找不到答案；即使智者自以為明白，他其實仍不能參透。
