8:1 有谁相似智者，有谁会解释事理﹖智慧使人的面容焕发，使严肃的容貌变为温和。
Who is like the wise man, and who knows the explanation of things? A man’s wisdom illumines his face, but an impudent look is resented. 8:2 为了向天主起的誓，你应遵守君王的命令；
Observe the precept of the king, and in view of your oath to God, 8:3 你不可由他面前仓猝离去，也不可行恶，因为凡他喜欢的事，都可随意执行。
be not hasty to withdraw from the king; do not join in with a base plot, for he does whatever he pleases, 8:4 原来君王的话具有威力，谁敢向他说：「你做什么﹖」
because his word is sovereign, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?" 8:5 遵守诫命的，不会遇到灾祸；智者的心能辨识时机和判断。
"He who keeps the commandment experiences no evil, and the wise man’s heart knows times and judgments; 8:6 的确，事事都有定时和定案；但重大的负担仍压在人身上，
for there is a time and a judgment for everything." ?Yet it is a great affliction for man 8:7 因为人不知道将来要发生什么事，有谁能告诉他，何时要发生﹖
that he is ignorant of what is to come; for who will make known to him how it will be? 8:8 没有人有权将生气保留不失，也没有人能支配死期，战场上没有人能退役，邪恶救不了作恶的人。
There is no man who is master of the breath of life so as to retain it, and none has mastery of the day of death. There is no exemption from the struggle, nor are the wicked saved by their wickedness. 8:9 我看见了这一切，专心研究在太阳下所行的一切事：有时统治人的人，自受其害；
All these things I considered and I applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun, while one man tyrannizes over another to his hurt. 8:10 有时我看见恶人被抬去安葬，而行义的人却反离开圣地，而在城中被人遗忘：这也是虚幻。
Meanwhile I saw wicked men approach and enter; and as they left the sacred place, they were praised in the city for what they had done. This also is vanity. 8:11 因为惩恶的定案未有迅速执行，世人因此充满了行恶的偏向。
Because the sentence against evildoers is not promptly executed, therefore the hearts of men are filled with the desire to commit evil ? 8:12 恶人虽百次行恶，仍享长寿，姑且不论；但我确实知道，那敬畏天主的人，因他们在天主前起敬起畏，必得幸福；
because the sinner does evil a hundred times and survives. Though indeed I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, for their reverence toward him; 8:13 而恶人必得不到幸福，他的时日如影，决不能久长，因为他不敬畏天主。
and that it shall not be well with the wicked man, and he shall not prolong his shadowy days, for his lack of reverence toward God. 8:14 在世上还有一件虚幻的事：就是义人所遭遇的，反如恶人所应得的；而恶人所遭遇的，反如义人所应得的；我遂说：这也是虚幻。
This is a vanity which occurs on earth: there are just men treated as though they had done evil and wicked men treated as though they had done justly. This, too, I say is vanity. 8:15 为此，我称赞快乐，因为在太阳下，人除了吃喝行乐外，别无幸福；因为这是人在天主赏他在太阳下的一生岁月内，从他的劳苦中，所获得的幸福。
Therefore I commend mirth, because there is nothing good for man under the sun except eating and drinking and mirth: for this is the accompaniment of his toil during the limited days of the life which God gives him under the sun. 8:16 当我专心追求智慧，观察人在世上，连黑夜白日都不能闭目安眠所行的工作时，
When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to observe what is done on earth, 8:17 我面对天主的一切作为，发觉人决不能知道在太阳下所发生的一切事。人虽然努力研究，终归无法得知；纵然有智者以为知道了，仍是一无所知。
I recognized that man is unable to find out all God’s work that is done under the sun, even though neither by day nor by night do his eyes find rest in sleep. However much man toils in searching, he does not find it out; and even if the wise man says that he knows, he is unable to find it out.