HOLY BIBLE: Ecclesiastes 3 (original) (raw)

1 τοῖς πᾶσιν χρόνος καὶ καιρὸς τῷ παντὶ πράγματι ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν 2 καιρὸς τοῦ τεκεῖν καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν καιρὸς τοῦ φυτεῦσαι καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ ἐκτῖλαι πεφυτευμένον 3 καιρὸς τοῦ ἀποκτεῖναι καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ ἰάσασθαι καιρὸς τοῦ καθελεῖν καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι 4 καιρὸς τοῦ κλαῦσαι καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ γελάσαι καιρὸς τοῦ κόψασθαι καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ ὀρχήσασθαι 5 καιρὸς τοῦ βαλεῖν λίθους καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ συναγαγεῖν λίθους καιρὸς τοῦ περιλαβεῖν καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ μακρυνθῆναι ἀπὸ περιλήμψεως 6 καιρὸς τοῦ ζητῆσαι καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ ἀπολέσαι καιρὸς τοῦ φυλάξαι καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ ἐκβαλεῖν 7 καιρὸς τοῦ ῥῆξαι καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ ῥάψαι καιρὸς τοῦ σιγᾶν καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ λαλεῖν 8 καιρὸς τοῦ φιλῆσαι καὶ καιρὸς τοῦ μισῆσαι καιρὸς πολέμου καὶ καιρὸς εἰρήνης 9 τίς περισσεία τοῦ ποιοῦντος ἐν οἷς αὐτὸς μοχθεῖ 10 εἶδον σὺν τὸν περισπασμόν ὃν ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ περισπᾶσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ 11 σὺν τὰ πάντα ἐποίησεν καλὰ ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ καί γε σὺν τὸν αἰῶνα ἔδωκεν ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν ὅπως μὴ εὕρῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὸ ποίημα ὃ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός ἀ{P'} ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι τέλους 12 ἔγνων ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀγαθὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς εἰ μὴ τοῦ εὐφρανθῆναι καὶ τοῦ ποιεῖν ἀγαθὸν ἐν ζωῇ αὐτοῦ 13 καί γε πᾶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὃς φάγεται καὶ πίεται καὶ ἴδῃ ἀγαθὸν ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ αὐτοῦ δόμα θεοῦ ἐστιν 14 ἔγνων ὅτι πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός αὐτὰ ἔσται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἐ{P'} αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν προσθεῖναι καὶ ἀ{P'} αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀφελεῖν καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησεν ἵνα φοβηθῶσιν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ 15 τὸ γενόμενον ἤδη ἐστίν καὶ ὅσα τοῦ γίνεσθαι ἤδη γέγονεν καὶ ὁ θεὸς ζητήσει τὸν διωκόμενον

1 Everything must be done by turns; no activity, here beneath the heavens, but has its allotted time for beginning and coming to an end. 2 Men are born only to die, plant trees only to displant them. 3 Now we take life, now we save it; now we are destroying, now building. 4 Weep first, then laugh, mourn we and dance; 5 the stones we have scattered we must bring together anew; court we first and then shun the embrace. 6 To-day’s gain, tomorrow’s loss; what once we treasured, soon thrown away; 7 the garment rent, the garment mended; silence kept, and silence ended; 8 love alternating with hatred, war with peace. 9 For all this toiling of his, how is man the richer?[1] 10 Pitiable indeed I found it, this task God has given to mankind; 11 and he, meanwhile, has made the world, in all its seasonable beauty, and given us the contemplation[2] of it, yet of his own dealings with us, first and last, never should man gain comprehension. 12 To enjoy his life, to make the best of it, beyond doubt this is man’s highest employment; 13 that gift at least God has granted him, to eat and drink and see his toil rewarded. 14 But be sure all God has made will remain for ever as he made it; there is no adding to it, no taking away from it; so he will command our reverence. 15 Nothing that has been, but lasts on still; nothing that will be, but has been already; he is ever repeating the history of the past.

1

Omnia tempus habent,
et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub cælo.

2
Tempus nascendi, et tempus moriendi;
tempus plantandi, et tempus evellendi quod plantatum est. 3
Tempus occidendi, et tempus sanandi;
tempus destruendi, et tempus ædificandi. 4
Tempus flendi, et tempus ridendi;
tempus plangendi, et tempus saltandi. 5
Tempus spargendi lapides, et tempus colligendi,
tempus amplexandi, et tempus longe fieri ab amplexibus. 6
Tempus acquirendi, et tempus perdendi;
tempus custodiendi, et tempus abjiciendi. 7
Tempus scindendi, et tempus consuendi;
tempus tacendi, et tempus loquendi. 8
Tempus dilectionis, et tempus odii;
tempus belli, et tempus pacis. 9

Quid habet amplius homo de labore suo?

10
Vidi afflictionem quam dedit Deus filiis hominum,
ut distendantur in ea. 11
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
Et cognovi quod non esset melius nisi lætari,
et facere bene in vita sua; 13
omnis enim homo qui comedit et bibit,
et videt bonum de labore suo,
hoc donum Dei est. 14
Didici quod omnia opera quæ fecit Deus perseverent in perpetuum;
non possumus eis quidquam addere, nec auferre,
quæ fecit Deus ut timeatur. 15
Quod factum est, ipsum permanet;
quæ futura sunt jam fuerunt,
et Deus instaurat quod abiit.

[1] vv. 1-9: These verses are ordinarily understood as implying that man’s varied activities have to be carried on at a time of God’s, not of his own, choosing. But, if so, the instances are strangely chosen, nor is it even clear why a series of contrasts should have been instituted at all. The context suggests (cf. especially verse 9) that we are meant to think of life as a monotonous alternation of opposite activities; in that case, the passage has the same note of frustration as 1.4-7 above.

[2] Literally, ‘the discussion’. The Hebrew text gives a more mysterious phrase: ‘He has set eternity (or perhaps, the world) in their hearts’.

[3] The Hebrew text has ‘For there is a time for every purpose and for every deed there’, it is not clear in what sense.

[4] The end of this verse, in the Hebrew text, is commonly suspected of corruption. But it seems doubtful whether there has not been some wider dislocation; the want of logical connexion between the two halves of this verse is unmistakable. Those editors who would strike out verse 18 as an insertion do not mend matters; it leaves a hopeless gap between the thought of verse 17 and that of verse 19.

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