Sapientia hominis lucet in vultu ejus, et potentissimus faciem illius commutabit.

The wisdom of a man shineth in his countenance, and the most mighty will change his face.

When a man is given wisdom, it shines out in his face; Omnipotence will set a new stamp on his brow.

Ego os regis observo, et præcepta juramenti Dei.

I observe the mouth of the king, and the commandments of the oath of God.

Mine to do a king’s bidding, to hold fast by an oath taken in the name of God.

Ne festines recedere a facie ejus, neque permaneas in opere malo: quia omne quod voluerit faciet.

Be not hasty to depart from his face, and do not continue in an evil work: for he will do all that pleaseth him:

Do not hasten away from his presence, or rebelliously withstand him; he can do all he will,

Et sermo illius potestate plenus est, nec dicere ei quisquam potest: Quare ita facis?

And his word is full of power: neither can any man say to him: Why dost thou so?

with such authority his word runs; none may call his acts in question.

Qui custodit præceptum non experietur quidquam mali. Tempus et responsionem cor sapientis intelligit.

He that keepeth the commandment, shall find no evil. The heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer.

Do as thou art bidden, and fear no harm. A time will come, the wise man knows, when he shall win a hearing;

Omni negotio tempus est, et opportunitas: et multa hominis afflictio,

There is a time and opportunity for every business, and great affliction for man:

time brings every man his chance, be his business what it may, only this curse lies upon man,

quia ignorat præterita, et futura nullo scire potest nuntio.

Because he is ignorant of things past, and things to come he cannot know by any messenger.

that he cannot learn from the past, cannot get word of the future.

Non est in hominis potestate prohibere spiritum, nec habet potestatem in die mortis: nec sinitur quiescere ingruente bello, neque salvabit impietas impium.

It is not in man’s power to stop the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death, neither is he suffered to rest when war is at hand, neither shall wickedness save the wicked.

The breath of life man must resign at last; the day of his death he cannot determine; nor ever does war give release from service, nor sin discharge to the sinner.

Omnia hæc consideravi, et dedi cor meum in cunctis operibus quæ fiunt sub sole. Interdum dominatur homo homini in malum suum.

All these things I have considered, and applied my heart to all the works that are done under the sun. Sometimes one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

This, too, I have marked, as I gave heed to all that befalls us, here beneath the sun. There are times when man rules over man to his undoing.

Vidi impios sepultos, qui etiam cum adhuc viverent in loco sancto erant, et laudabantur in civitate quasi justorum operum. Sed et hoc vanitas est.

I saw the wicked buried: who also when they were yet living were in the holy place, and were praised in the city as men of just works: but this also is vanity.

I have seen godless men go peacefully to the grave, that had lived their lives out in haunts of holiness, and won the name of good men from their fellow citizens; here, too, is frustration.

Etenim quia non profertur cito contra malos sententia, absque timore ullo filii hominum perpetrant mala.

For because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evils without any fear.

Because sentence is not pronounced upon the evil-doers without more ado, men are emboldened to live sinfully.

Attamen peccator ex eo quod centies facit malum, et per patientiam sustentatur; ego cognovi quod erit bonum timentibus Deum, qui verentur faciem ejus.

But though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and by patience be borne withal, I know from thence that it shall be well with them that fear God, who dread his face.

And yet, though the sinner presume on the divine patience that has borne with a hundred misdeeds, I know well enough that blessings are for those who fear God, who fear his frown.

Non sit bonum impio, nec prolongentur dies ejus, sed quasi umbra transeant qui non timent faciem Domini.

But let it not be well with the wicked, neither let his days be prolonged, but as a shadow let them pass away that fear not the face of the Lord.

Never a blessing for sinners; never be it said they lived out their full span of days! Reckless of God’s frown, see, they pass like a shadow, and are gone!

Est et alia vanitas quæ fit super terram: sunt justi quibus mala proveniunt quasi opera egerint impiorum: et sunt impii qui ita securi sunt quasi justorum facta habeant. Sed et hoc vanissimum judico.

There is also another vanity, which is done upon the earth. There are just men to whom evils happen, as though they had done the works of the wicked: and there are wicked men, who are as secure, as though they had the deeds of the just: but this also I judge most vain.

Another kind of frustration, too, earth sees; there are upright men that are plagued as though they lived the life sinners live, just as there are sinners who take no more harm than if they could plead innocence; I say this is frustration indeed.

Laudavi igitur lætitiam; quod non esset homini bonum sub sole, nisi quod comederet, et biberet, atque gauderet, et hoc solum secum auferret de labore suo, in diebus vitæ suæ quos dedit ei Deus sub sole.

Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and that he should take nothing else with him of his labour in the days of his life, which God hath given him under the sun.

For me, then, mirth! No higher blessing could man attain, here under the sun, than to eat and drink and make merry; nothing else had he to show for all those labours of his, for all that life-time God has given him, here under the sun.

Et apposui cor meum ut scirem sapientiam, et intelligerem distentionem quæ versatur in terra. Est homo qui diebus et noctibus somnum non capit oculis.

And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to understand the distraction that is upon earth: for there are some that day and night take no sleep with their eyes.

Should I cudgel my wits to grow wise, and know the meaning of all earth’s tasks; be like the men that allow their eyes no sleep, day or night?

Et intellexi quod omnium operum Dei nullam possit homo invenire rationem eorum quæ fiunt sub sole; et quanto plus laboraverit ad quærendum, tanto minus inveniat: etiam si dixerit sapiens se nosse, non poterit reperire.

And I understood that man can find no reason of all those works of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall labour to seek, so much the less shall he find: yea, though the wise man shall say, that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find it.

Nay, I understood too well that God’s dealings with man, here under the sun, are past all accounting for; the more a man labours to read that riddle, the less he finds out, and he least of all, that boasts himself wise in the reading of it.