道德經

Πολλοὶ δὲ ἔσονται πρῶτοι ἔσχατοι καὶ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι.

κατά Ματθαίον 19:30 Greek NT: Nestle 1904

KJV with Strong's

"But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first"

《道德經》第七十六章

人之生也柔弱，其死也堅強。

萬物草木之生也柔脆，其死也枯槁。

故堅強者死之徒，柔弱者生之徒。

是以兵強則不勝，木強則共。

強大處下，柔弱處上。

Dao De Jing Chapter Seventy-six ― C. Ganson

76

Living, man is supple and yielding;

when dead, man is hard and stiff.

Living, animals, and plants are soft and pliant;

when dead, they are withered and brittle.

Being inflexible and unyielding is part of dying;

being flexible and yielding is part of living.

A headstrong legion will lose in war just

as an unyielding tree will snap under the ax.

The place of the strong is below;

the place of the gentle is above.

Dao De Jing Chapter Seventy-six ― James Legge

76 (A warning against (trusting in) strength)

Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.

Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.

Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not conquer, and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms, (and thereby invites the feller.)

Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.

Dao De Jing Chapter Seventy-six ― Arthur Waley

76

When he is born, man is soft and weak;

In death, he becomes stiff and hard.

The ten thousand creatures and all plants

And trees, while they are alive, are supple and soft,

But when and dead they become brittle and dry.

Truly, what is stiff and hard is a “companion of death”;

What is soft and weak is a “companion of life”.

Therefore “the weapon that is too hard will be broken,

The tree that has the hardest wood will be cut down”.

Truly, the hard and mighty are cast down;

The soft and weak set on high.