Ecclesiastes 3
1 Everything has its own time—a time for all that happens here:
[Omnia tempus habent, et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub cælo.
2 A time of birth, and a time of death. A time of planting, and a time of harvest.
Tempus nascendi, et tempus moriendi; tempus plantandi, et tempus evellendi quod plantatum est.
3 A time of killing, and a time of healing. A time of tearing down, and a time of building up.
Tempus occidendi, et tempus sanandi; tempus destruendi, et tempus ædificandi.
4 A time of crying, and a time of laughing. A time of mourning, and a time of dancing.
Tempus flendi, et tempus ridendi; tempus plangendi, et tempus saltandi.
5 A time of throwing away stones, and a time of gathering up stones. A time of embracing, and a time of avoiding embracing.
Tempus spargendi lapides, et tempus colligendi, tempus amplexandi, et tempus longe fieri ab amplexibus.
6 A time of searching, and a time of giving up searching. A time of keeping, and a time of throwing away.
Tempus acquirendi, et tempus perdendi; tempus custodiendi, et tempus abjiciendi.
7 A time of tearing, and a time of mending. A time of keeping quiet, a time of speaking up.
Tempus scindendi, et tempus consuendi; tempus tacendi, et tempus loquendi.
8 A time of loving, and a time of hating. A time of warfare, and a time of peace.
Tempus dilectionis, et tempus odii; tempus belli, et tempus pacis.]
9 So what do you get for all your hard work?
[Quid habet amplius homo de labore suo?
10 I have examined what God gives us to do.
Vidi afflictionem quam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut distendantur in ea.
11 Everything God does is beautifully timed, and even though he has also placed the idea of eternity in our minds, we can't fully understand what God does from beginning to end.
Cuncta fecit bona in tempore suo, et mundum tradidit disputationi eorum, ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus est Deus ab initio usque ad finem.
12 I concluded that there's nothing better than being happy and looking for the good in life.
Et cognovi quod non esset melius nisi lætari, et facere bene in vita sua;
13 In addition everyone should eat and drink and enjoy their work—this is God's gift to us.
omnis enim homo qui comedit et bibit, et videt bonum de labore suo, hoc donum Dei est.
14 I also concluded that everything God does lasts forever: nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. God acts in this way so that people may stand in awe of him.
Didici quod omnia opera quæ fecit Deus perseverent in perpetuum; non possumus eis quidquam addere, nec auferre, quæ fecit Deus ut timeatur.
15 Whatever was, is; and whatever will be, has been, and God examines the whole of time.
Quod factum est, ipsum permanet; quæ futura sunt jam fuerunt, et Deus instaurat quod abiit.]
16 I also observed that here on earth there was evil even in the place where there was supposed to be justice; even where things were meant to be right, there was evil.
[Vidi sub sole in loco judicii impietatem, et in loco justitiæ iniquitatem:
17 But then I thought to myself, “Ultimately God will judge both those who do right and those who do wrong, and every deed and action, at the appointed time.”
et dixi in corde meo: Justum et impium judicabit Deus, et tempus omnis rei tunc erit.
18 I also thought to myself, “Regarding what happens to human beings—God proves to us that we're no better than animals.”
Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum, ut probaret eos Deus, et ostenderet similes esse bestiis.
19 For what happens to human beings is the same as what happens to animals—in the same way one dies, the other dies too. They all have the breath of life—so regarding any advantage human beings have over animals, there is none. Definitely this is very hard to understand!
Idcirco unus interitus est hominis et jumentorum, et æqua utriusque conditio. Sicut moritur homo, sic et illa moriuntur. Similiter spirant omnia, et nihil habet homo jumento amplius: cuncta subjacent vanitati,
20 They all end up in the same place—they all came from dust, and they all return to dust.
et omnia pergunt ad unum locum. De terra facta sunt, et in terram pariter revertuntur.
21 Who really knows whether the breath of life of human beings goes up above, and the breath of life of animals goes down below to the earth?
Quis novit si spiritus filiorum Adam ascendat sursum, et si spiritus jumentorum descendat deorsum?
22 So I concluded that there's nothing better than for people to enjoy their work. This is what we are meant to do. For who can bring anyone back from the dead to show them what will happen after they die?
Et deprehendi nihil esse melius quam lætari hominem in opere suo, et hanc esse partem illius. Quis enim eum adducet ut post se futura cognoscat?]
