3:1 事事有时节，天下任何事皆有定时：
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. 3:2 生有时，死有时，栽种有时，拔除栽种亦有时；
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. 3:3 杀戮有时，治疗有时，拆毁有时，建筑有时；
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. 3:4 哭有时，笑有时，哀悼有时，舞蹈有时；
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. 3:5 拋石有时，堆石有时；拥抱有时，戒避拥抱亦有时；
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. 3:6 寻找有时，遗失有时；保存有时，舍弃有时；
A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. 3:7 撕裂有时，缝缀有时；缄默有时，言谈有时，
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. 3:8 爱慕有时，憎恨有时；作战有时，和睦有时。
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 3:9 工作的人，从劳苦中得了什么利益﹖
What advantage has the worker from his toil? 3:10 我观察了天主交予人类所应从事的事务，得知：
I have considered the task which God has appointed for men to be busied about. 3:11 天主所行的一切事宜，都很适时，并赐给人认识时事的经历，但人仍不能明了，天主自始至终所做的工作。
He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. 3:12 于是我明了：人类的幸福，只有在此生欢乐享受；
I recognized that there is nothing better than to be glad and to do well during life. 3:13 但人人有吃有喝，享受自己一切劳苦之所得，也是天主的恩赐。
For every man, moreover, to eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of all his labor is a gift of God. 3:14 我知道：凡天主所行的事，永恒不变，无一可增，无一可减。天主这样作，是为叫人敬畏他。
I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it, or taking from it. Thus has God done that he may be revered. 3:15 现今所有的，早已有过；将来所有的，先前已有过；因为天主必追寻已往的事。
What now is has already been; what is to be, already is; and God restores what would otherwise be displaced. 3:16 我在太阳下还看见：正义之处有不义，公平之处有不平。
And still under the sun in the judgment place I saw wickedness, and in the seat of justice, iniquity. 3:17 我心里想天主必要审判义人和恶人，因为各种事情和行为，在天主那里都有其定时。
And I said to myself, both the just and the wicked God will judge, since there is a time for every affair and on every work a judgment. 3:18 我想，天主借此是为使世人认清自己是谁，看清自己与走兽无异。
I said to myself: As for the children of men, it is God’s way of testing them and of showing that they are in themselves like beasts. 3:19 的确，世人的命运，同走兽的命运，都是一样：前者怎样死，后者也怎样死；气息都一样，人并不优于走兽：因为都是虚无。
For the lot of man and of beast is one lot; the one dies as well as the other. Both have the same life-breath, and man has no advantage over the beast; but all is vanity. 3:20 都同归于一处；既都出于尘土，也都归于尘土。
Both go to the same place; both were made from the dust, and to the dust they both return. 3:21 人的气息是否向上高升，走兽的气息是否下降地下，有谁知道﹖
Who knows if the life-breath of the children of men goes upward and the life-breath of beasts goes earthward? 3:22 因此，我看出：人最好还是享受自己劳苦所得，因为这是他的命运；有谁能领他去看他自己身后的事﹖
And I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to rejoice in his work; for this is his lot. Who will let him see what is to come after him?