HOLY BIBLE: Ecclesiastes 2 (original) (raw)

1 εἶπον ἐγὼ ἐν καρδίᾳ μου δεῦρο δὴ πειράσω σε ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ καὶ ἰδὲ ἐν ἀγαθῷ καὶ ἰδοὺ καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης 2 τῷ γέλωτι εἶπα περιφορὰν καὶ τῇ εὐφροσύνῃ τί τοῦτο ποιεῖς 3 κατεσκεψάμην ἐν καρδίᾳ μου τοῦ ἑλκύσαι εἰς οἶνον τὴν σάρκα μου καὶ καρδία μου ὡδήγησεν ἐν σοφίᾳ καὶ τοῦ κρατῆσαι ἐ{P'} ἀφροσύνῃ ἕως οὗ ἴδω ποῖον τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὃ ποιήσουσιν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον ἀριθμὸν ἡμερῶν ζωῆς αὐτῶν 4 ἐμεγάλυνα ποίημά μου ᾠκοδόμησά μοι οἴκους ἐφύτευσά μοι ἀμπελῶνας 5 ἐποίησά μοι κήπους καὶ παραδείσους καὶ ἐφύτευσα ἐν αὐτοῖς ξύλον πᾶν καρποῦ 6 ἐποίησά μοι κολυμβήθρας ὑδάτων τοῦ ποτίσαι ἀ{P'} αὐτῶν δρυμὸν βλαστῶντα ξύλα 7 ἐκτησάμην δούλους καὶ παιδίσκας καὶ οἰκογενεῖς ἐγένοντό μοι καί γε κτῆσις βουκολίου καὶ ποιμνίου πολλὴ ἐγένετό μοι ὑπὲρ πάντας τοὺς γενομένους ἔμπροσθέν μου ἐν Ιερουσαλημ 8 συνήγαγόν μοι καί γε ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον καὶ περιουσιασμοὺς βασιλέων καὶ τῶν χωρῶν ἐποίησά μοι ᾄδοντας καὶ ᾀδούσας καὶ ἐντρυφήματα υἱῶν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἰνοχόον καὶ οἰνοχόας 9 καὶ ἐμεγαλύνθην καὶ προσέθηκα παρὰ πάντας τοὺς γενομένους ἔμπροσθέν μου ἐν Ιερουσαλημ καί γε σοφία μου ἐστάθη μοι 10 καὶ πᾶν ὃ ᾔτησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου οὐχ ὑφεῖλον ἀ{P'} αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀπεκώλυσα τὴν καρδίαν μου ἀπὸ πάσης εὐφροσύνης ὅτι καρδία μου εὐφράνθη ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ μου καὶ τοῦτο ἐγένετο μερίς μου ἀπὸ παντὸς μόχθου μου 11 καὶ ἐπέβλεψα ἐγὼ ἐν πᾶσιν ποιήμασίν μου οἷς ἐποίησαν αἱ χεῖρές μου καὶ ἐν μόχθῳ ᾧ ἐμόχθησα τοῦ ποιεῖν καὶ ἰδοὺ τὰ πάντα ματαιότης καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν περισσεία ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον

1 Next, I thought to give the rein to my desires, and enjoy pleasure, until I found that this, too, was labour lost. 2 Wouldst thou know how I learned to find laughter an empty thing, and all joy a vain illusion; 3 how I resolved at last to deny myself the comfort of wine, wisdom now all my quest, folly disowned? For I could not rest until I knew where man’s true good lay, what was his life’s true task, here under the sun.[1] 4 Great plans I set on foot; I would build palaces, I would plant vineyards, 5 I would have park and orchard, planted with every kind of tree; 6 and to water all this greenery there must be pools of water besides. 7 Men-slaves I bought and women-slaves, till I had a great retinue of them; herds, too, and abundance of flocks, such as Jerusalem never saw till then. 8 Gold and silver I amassed, revenues of subject king and subject province; men-singers I had and women-singers, and all that man delights in; beakers a many, and jars of wine to fill them.[2] 9 Never had Jerusalem known such wealth; yet in the midst of it, wisdom never left my side. 10 Eyes denied nothing that eyes could covet, a heart stinted of no enjoyment, free of all the pleasures I had devised for myself, this was to be my reward, this the fruit of all my labours. 11 And now, when I looked round at all I had done, all that ungrateful drudgery, nothing I found there but frustration and labour lost, so fugitive is all we cherish, here under the sun.

1

Dixi ego in corde meo: Vadam,
et affluam deliciis, et fruar bonis;
et vidi quod hoc quoque esset vanitas.

2
Risum reputavi errorem,
et gaudio dixi: Quid frustra deciperis? 3
Cogitavi in corde meo abstrahere a vino carnem meam,
ut animam meam transferrem ad sapientiam,
devitaremque stultitiam,
donec viderem quid esset utile filiis hominum,
quo facto opus est sub sole numero dierum vitæ suæ. 4
Magnificavi opera mea,
ædificavi mihi domos,
et plantavi vineas; 5
feci hortos et pomaria,
et consevi ea cuncti generis arboribus; 6
et exstruxi mihi piscinas aquarum,
ut irrigarem silvam lignorum germinantium. 7
Possedi servos et ancillas,
multamque familiam habui:
armenta quoque, et magnos ovium greges,
ultra omnes qui fuerunt ante me in Jerusalem; 8
coacervavi mihi argentum et aurum,
et substantias regum ac provinciarum;
feci mihi cantores et cantatrices,
et delicias filiorum hominum,
scyphos, et urceos in ministerio ad vina fundenda; 9
et supergressus sum opibus
omnes qui ante me fuerunt in Jerusalem:
sapientia quoque perseveravit mecum. 10
Et omnia quæ desideraverunt oculi mei
non negavi eis,
nec prohibui cor meum quin omni voluptate frueretur,
et oblectaret se in his quæ præparaveram;
et hanc ratus sum partem meam si uterer labore meo. 11
Cumque me convertissem ad universa opera quæ fecerant manus meæ,
et ad labores in quibus frustra sudaveram,
vidi in omnibus vanitatem et afflictionem animi,
et nihil permanere sub sole.

[1] In the Hebrew text, the first part of this verse refers not to the second thoughts which recalled the author to a simpler way of living, but to those first thoughts of which he afterwards repented: ‘I considered how best to pamper my body with wine, how best to cling to my follies, yet retaining wisdom all the while’.

[2] The last ten words of this verse represent, in the Hebrew text, a passage of uncertain significance.

[3] The Hebrew text, in the latter half of this verse, runs: ‘For what (shall) the man (do) that comes after the king? Why, what they have already done’, perhaps a footnote recalling the follies of king Roboam (see verse 19 below). The literal sense of the Latin is: ‘What (said I) is man, that he should be able to follow the King, his Maker?’

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd