【传 1:2】 传道者说:虚空的虚空,虚空的虚空,凡事都是虚空。
【Ecc 1:2】 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
【传 1:3】 人一切的劳碌,就是他在日光之下的劳碌,有什么益处呢?
【Ecc 1:3】 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
【传 1:4】 一代过去,一代又来,地却永远长存。
【Ecc 1:4】 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
【传 1:5】 日头出来,日头落下,急归所出之地。
【Ecc 1:5】 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
【传 1:6】 风往南刮,又向北转,不住地旋转,而且返回转行原道。
【Ecc 1:6】 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
【传 1:7】 江河都往海里流,海却不满;江河从何处流,仍归还何处。
【Ecc 1:7】 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
【传 1:8】 万事令人厌烦(或作“万物满有困乏”),人不能说尽。眼看,看不饱;耳听,听不足。
【Ecc 1:8】 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
【传 1:9】 已有的事,后必再有;已行的事,后必再行。日光之下,并无新事。
【Ecc 1:9】 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
【传 1:10】 岂有一件事人能指着说这是新的?哪知,在我们以前的世代早已有了。
【Ecc 1:10】 Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.
【传 1:11】 已过的世代,无人记念;将来的世代,后来的人也不记念。
【Ecc 1:11】 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.