961 英翻中 (661) The Ecclesiastes (十一) 傳道書(十一) 12/01/2025

961 英翻中 (661)               The Ecclesiastes (十一)                    傳道書(十一)                    12/01/2025

CHAPTER SIX Ecclesiastes 5 STOP, THIEF!                                                                                              第六章 傳道書第5章  住手，小偷！                                                                                                      The magazine cartoon showed a dismal looking man walking out of a bank manager’s office with the manager saying to his secretary, “He suffers from back problems: back taxes, back rent, and back alimony.”                                                                                                                                                    該雜誌的漫畫展示了一名面色沮喪的男子，走出銀行經理的辦公室，經理對他的秘書說：“他患收支不平衡的問題：欠稅、欠租金和贍養費。”                                                                                              Many people today suffer from similar “back problems.” They refuse to heed the warning Bill Earle gave many years ago: “When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.”                                                                                                                                                              如今，許多人都患有類似的「收支不平衡的問題」。他們不接受比爾厄爾(Bill Earle)多年前提出的警告：“當你的支出超過你的收入時，你的維持將導致你的崩潰。”                                                The wealthy King Solomon knew something about money. Some of this wisdom he shared in the book of Proverbs, and some he included here in Ecclesiastes. After all, he couldn’t discuss “life under the sun” and ignore money!                                                                                                                                  富有的所羅門王對金錢使用最了解。他在《箴言》中分享了其中他的智慧，有些則收錄在《傳道書》中。畢竟，他不能談論 “陽光下的生活” 而忽視金錢！                                                                But he goes beyond the subject of mere money and deals with the values of life, the things that really count. After all, there is more than one way to be rich and more than one way to be poor. In this chapter, Solomon issues three warnings that relate to the values of life.                                                              但他超越了單純的金錢主題，進入探討生命的價值，以及真正重要的事。畢竟，致富的方式不只一種，致貧的方式也一樣不只一種。在本章中，所羅門發出了三條與生命價值相關的警告。           

Don’t Rob the Lord (5:1–7)                                                                                                                      不可搶奪屬主的（5:1-7）                                                                                                                      Solomon had visited the courtroom, the marketplace, the highway, and the palace. Now he paid a visit to the temple, that magnificent building whose construction he had supervised. He watched the worshippers come and go, praising God, praying, sacrificing, and making vows. He noted that many of them were not at all sincere in their worship, and they left the sacred precincts in worse spiritual condition than when they had entered. What was their sin? They were robbing God of the reverence and honor that He deserved. Their acts of worship were perfunctory, insincere, and hypocritical.                  所羅門參觀過法庭、市場、超速公路和宮殿。現在他來參觀這座寺廟，這座宏偉的建築是他監督建造的。他看著敬拜者來來去去，讚美上帝、禱告、獻祭、許願。他指出，他們中的許多人在崇拜中根本不真誠，他們離開聖地時的精神狀況比進入時更糟。他們的罪孽是什麼？他們剝奪了上帝應得的敬畏和榮耀。他們的崇拜行為是敷衍的、不真誠的、虛偽的。                                         In today’s language, “Keep thy foot!” means “Watch your step!” Even though God’s glorious presence doesn’t dwell in our church buildings as it did in the temple, believers today still need to heed this warning. The worship of God is the highest ministry of the church and must come from devoted hearts and yielded wills. For God’s people to participate in public worship while harboring unconfessed sin is to ask for God’s rebuke and judgment (Isa. 1:10–20; Amos 5; Ps. 50).                                                       用今天的話來說，就是 “站住！”  意思是“小心你的腳步！”雖然上帝榮耀的臨在不像聖殿那樣住在我們的教會裡，但今天的信徒仍然需要留意這個警告。敬拜上帝是教會的最高事工，必須來自虔誠的心和屈服的意志。對上帝的子民來說，參與公開敬拜卻懷有未認的罪，就是祈求上帝的責備和審判（以賽亞書 1：10-20；阿摩司書 5；詩篇 50）。                                                           Offering of sacrifices (v. 1). God’s people today don’t offer animals to the Lord as in Old Testament times, because Jesus Christ has fulfilled all the sacrifices in His death on the cross (Heb. 10:1–14). But as the priests of God, believers today offer up spiritual sacrifices through Him: our bodies (Rom. 12:1–2); people won to the Savior (Rom. 15:16); money (Phil. 4:18); praise and good works (Heb. 13:15–16); a broken heart (Ps. 51:17); and our prayers of faith (Ps. 141:1–2).                                           獻祭（1節）。今天上帝的子民不再像舊約時代那樣直接向主獻上動物，因為耶穌基督在十字架上的死已經成就了所有的犧牲（希伯來書 10:1-14）。但作為神的祭司，今天的信徒透過祂獻上屬靈的祭物：我們的身體（羅馬書 12:1-2）；人們贏得了救主的支持（羅馬書 15:16）；金錢（腓利比書 4:18）；讚美和善行（希伯來書 13:15-16）；破碎的心（詩篇 51:17）；以及我們出於信心的祈禱（詩篇 141：1-2）。                                                                                                               The important thing is that the worshipper “be more ready to hear,” that is, to obey the Word of God. Sacrifices are not substitutes for obedience, as King Saul found out when he tried to cover up his disobedience with pious promises (1 Sam. 15:12–23). Offerings in the hands without obedient faith in the heart become “the sacrifice of fools,” because only a fool thinks he can deceive God. The fool thinks he is doing good, but he or she is only doing evil. And God knows it.                                                      重要的是敬拜者“更願意聆聽”，即遵守祂的話語。正如掃羅王試圖用虔誠的承諾，來掩蓋他不服從時所發現的那樣，犧牲並不能代替服從（撒母耳上 15：12-23）。心中不順服，信心的手中的祭物就成了  “愚人的祭物”，因為只有愚人認為他能欺騙上帝。愚人以為自己在行善，其實他或她只是在作惡。上帝知道這一點。                                                                                                        Careless praying (vv. 2–3). Prayer is serious business. Like marriage, “it must not be entered into lightly or carelessly, but soberly and in the fear of God.” If you and I were privileged to bring our needs and requests to the White House or to Buckingham Palace, we would prepare our words carefully and exhibit proper behavior. How much more important it is when we come to the throne of Almighty God. Yet, there is so much flippant praying about the fear of the Lord.                                                                        漫不經心的禱告（2-3節）。禱告是很嚴肅的事。就像婚姻一樣，「婚姻不能輕易或粗心地締結，而必須清醒並敬畏上帝」。如果你我有幸向白宮或白金漢宮提出我們的需求和要求，我們會仔細準備我們的措辭，並表現出適當配合的行為。當我們來到全能上帝的寶座前時，這是多麼重要啊！然而，關於敬畏祂的禱告卻有很多是輕率的。                                                                        When you pray, watch out for both hasty words and too many words (Matt. 6:7). The secret of acceptable praying is a prepared heart (Ps. 141:1–2), because the mouth speaks what the heart contains (Matt. 12:34–37). If we pray only to impress people, we will not get through to God. The author of Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, wrote: “In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart.”                                                                                                                                           當你禱告時，要小心不要說得太過急，也不要說太多（太  6:7）。蒙悅納禱告的秘訣是一顆預備好的心（詩 141：1-2），因為口裡所說的都是心裡所想的（太 12：34-37）。如果我們禱告只是為了給別人留下深刻的印象，我們就無法碰到上帝。 《天路歷程》的作者約翰·班揚寫道：“在祈禱中，有心無言，勝過有言無心。”                                                                                                Verse 3 presents an analogy: Just as many dreams show that the person sleeping is a hard worker, so many words show that the person praying is a fool (Prov. 29:20). I recall a church prayer meeting during which a young man prayed eloquently and at great length, but nobody sensed the power of God at work. When an uneducated immigrant stood up and stammered out her brief prayer in broken English, we all said a fervent “Amen!” We sensed that God had heard her requests. Spurgeon said, “It is not the length of our prayers, but the strength of our prayers, that makes the difference.”                                  在第 3 節中，他打了一個比喻：正如許多的夢，表明睡覺的人是多麼努力一樣，許多言語表明祈禱的人是一個愚昧人（箴言 29:20）。我記得有一次教會的禱告會，一位年輕人的禱告很雄辯、很長，但沒有人感覺到上帝的大能在工作。當沒有受過教育的移民女士站起來，用蹩腳的英語，結結巴巴地說出她簡短的祈禱時，我們都熱切地說 “阿門！”  我們感覺到上帝聽到了她的請求。司布真說：“重要的不是我們禱告的長度，而是我們禱告的強度。”                                            Making vows to the Lord (vv. 4–7). God did not require His people to make vows in order to be accepted by Him, but the opportunity was there for them to express their devotion if they felt led to do so (see Num. 30; Deut. 23:21–23; Acts 18:18).                                                                                                    向主許願（4-7節）。上帝並沒有要求祂的子民發誓才能被祂接納，但如果他們感到被引導，他們就有機會表達自己的奉獻（參考  民數記 30；申命記 23：21-23；使徒行傳 18 :18）。          The Preacher warned about two sins. The first was that of making the vow with no intention of keeping it, in other words, lying to God. The second sin was making the vow but delaying to keep it, hoping you could get out of it. When the priest [“angel” = messenger] came to collect the promised sacrifice or gift, the person would say, “Please forget about my vow! It was a mistake!”                                    傳教士警告人們注意兩種罪惡。第一種是立下誓言卻無意遵守，換句話說，就是對上帝說謊。第二宗罪是立下誓言卻遲遲不遵守，希望自己能擺脫它。當祭司[「天使」=使者]來領取承諾的祭品或禮物時，這個人會說：「請忘記我的誓言！這是一個錯誤！                                                    God hears what we say and holds us to our promises, unless they were so foolish that He could only dismiss them. If providence prevents us from fulfilling what we promised, God understands and will release us. If we made our vows only to impress others, or perhaps to “bribe” the Lord (“If God answers my prayer, I will give $500 to missions!”), then we will pay for our careless words. Many times in my pastoral ministry I have heard sick people make promises to God as they asked for healing, only to see those promises forgotten when they recovered.                                                                                        上帝聽到我們所說的話，並要求我們遵守我們的諾言，除非他們愚蠢到祂只能駁回它們。如果天意阻止我們實現我們的承諾，上帝會理解並釋放我們。如果我們發誓只是為了給別人留下深刻的印象，或者也許是為了「賄賂」主（「如果上帝回應我的祈禱，我將捐出500 美元用於宣教！」），那麼我們將為我們的粗心言論付出代價。在我的教牧事工中，我多次聽到病人在請求醫治時向上帝做出承諾，但當他們康復後卻發現這些承諾被遺忘了。                                                    People make empty vows because they live in a religious “dream world”; they think that words are the same as deeds (v. 7). Their worship is not serious, so their words are not dependable. They enjoy the “good feelings” that come when they make their promises to God, but they do themselves more harm than good. They like to “dream” about fulfilling their vows, but they never get around to doing it. They practice a make-believe religion that neither glorifies God nor builds Christian character.                                   人們發空願是因為他們活在宗教的「夢境」中；他們認為言語與行為是一樣的（7節）   。他們的崇拜不嚴肅，所以他們的話不可靠。他們享受向上帝作出承諾時所帶來的“美好感覺”，但這樣做對自己弊大於利。他們喜歡「夢想」履行自己的誓言，但從來沒有抽出時間去做。他們信奉一種虛假的宗教，既不榮耀上帝，也不培養基督徒品格。                                                                “I will go into thy house with burnt offerings; I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble” (Ps. 66:13–14). When we rob the Lord of the worship and honor due to Him, we are also robbing ourselves of the spiritual blessings He bestows on those who “worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).                                                                               「我要帶著燔祭進祢的殿；我要向祢還我在急難時嘴唇所起的、我口中所許的願」（詩 66:13-14）。當我們奪走主應得的敬拜和尊榮時，我們也奪走了祂賜給那些「用心靈和誠實敬拜祂」的人的屬靈祝福（約翰福音 4:24）。                                                                                                       

Don’t Rob Others (5:8–9)                                                                                                                        不可搶奪他人的（5:8-9）                                                                                                                        Solomon left the temple and went to the city hall, where he again witnessed corrupt politicians oppressing the poor (3:16–17; 4:1–3). The government officials violated the law by using their authority to help themselves and not to serve others, a practice condemned by Moses (Lev. 19:15; Deut. 24:17).    所羅門離開聖殿，前往市政廳，在那裡他再次目睹腐敗的政客壓迫窮人（3:16-17；4:1-3）。政府官員利用權力幫助自己而不是服務他人，因而違反了法律，這種做法受到摩西的譴責（利19:15；申  24:17）。                                                                                                                                           The remarkable thing is that Solomon wrote, “Don’t be surprised at this!” He certainly did not approve of their unlawful practices, but he knew too much about the human heart to expect anything different from the complicated bureaucracy in Israel.                                                                                          值得注意的是，所羅門寫道：“不要對此感到驚訝！”  他當然不贊成他們的非法行為，但他太了解人心，不會指望與以色列複雜的官僚機構有什麼不同。                                                                   The New International Version translation of verse 8 gives a vivid description of the situation: “One official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.” Instead of the poor man getting a fair hearing, “the matter is lost in red tape and bureaucracy” (v. 8 tlb), and the various officials pocket the money that should have gone to the innocent poor man.                                                      第8節的新國際版翻譯生動地描述了這種情況：“一個官員被一個更高的官員注視著，而在他們之上還有其他更高的官員。”窮人並沒有得到公平的聽證會，「事情在繁文縟節和官僚主義中消失了」（第8節 tlb 版），各種官員將本應歸無辜窮人所有的錢裝進了自己的口袋。                      Verse 9 is difficult, and major translations do not agree. The general idea seems to be that in spite of corruption in the bureaucracy, it is better to have organized government and a king over the land than to have anarchy. A few dishonest people may profit from corrupt practices, but everybody benefits from organized authority. Of course, the ideal is to have a government that is both honest and efficient, but man’s heart being what it is, the temptation to dishonest gain is always there. Lord Acton wrote to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Solomon’s investigation bears this out.                                                                                                                   第 9 節很難，主要翻譯也不一致。總的想法似乎是，儘管官僚機構腐敗，但有組織的政府和國王統治這片土地比無政府狀態更好。少數不誠實的人可能會從腐敗行為中獲利，但每個人都會從有組織的權威中受益。當然，理想的狀態是有一個既誠實又有效率的政府，但人心就是這樣，不誠實的利益的誘惑總是存在的。阿克頓勳爵 (Lord Acton) 於 1887 年寫信給曼德爾·克賴頓 (Mandell Creighton) 主教：絕對的權力帶來絕對的腐敗。所羅門的調查證實了這一點。