Livet synes uden mening
1Denne bog er af Prædikeren, som var søn af David og konge i Jerusalem.
2Der er ingen mening, livet er uden mening.
Det hele er meningsløst.
3Hvad får man ud af al sin møje?
Alt det, man her i livet må døje?
4Generationer kommer og går,
men verden kører videre og består.
5Solen står op, og solen går ned
dag efter dag i uendelighed.
6Vinden blæser mod syd og skifter om i nord,
det hele kører rundt, men ændrer ikke spor.
7Floder hælder vand i havet uden stop,
alligevel bliver havet aldrig fyldt op.
Vandet fordamper og kommer tilbage til floden,
sådan kører det bare rundt på hele kloden.
8Alting er så kedsommeligt,
fordi det er så forudsigeligt.
Det er altid det samme, man ser,
altid det samme, man hører.
9Hvad der før er sket, vil ske igen,
Hvad der før er gjort, vil blive gjort igen.
Der er intet nyt under solen.
10Der er intet nyt, der kommer op i nutiden,
som ikke også er sket i fortiden.
11De gamles heltemod huskes ikke mere,
i fremtiden vil nutiden ikke eksistere.
Menneskelig visdom kommer til kort
12Jeg, Prædikeren, var konge over Israel og boede i Jerusalem. 13Jeg besluttede mig for grundigt at udforske alt, hvad der foregår på jorden, og jeg kom til det resultat, at det er et træls og slidsomt liv, Gud har givet menneskene.
14Jeg så, at alt, hvad folk foretager sig, er omsonst, det er som at bygge luftkasteller. 15Man kan ikke gøre det falske ægte, og man kan ikke afhjælpe alle mangler.
16Jeg sagde til mig selv: „Jeg har større viden end nogen anden konge før mig i Jerusalem. Jeg er den klogeste og mest intelligente.” 17Derfor har jeg tænkt meget over fordelen ved at have visdom og kundskab frem for at være dum og uvidende. Men jeg opdagede, at selv det var formålsløst. 18Jo mere visdom, des større lidelse, jo mere kundskab, des større smerte.
Everything is meaningless
1The words of the Teacher,1:1 Or the leader of the assembly; also in verses 2 and 12 son of David, king of Jerusalem:
2‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’
says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.’
3What do people gain from all their labours
at which they toil under the sun?
4Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains for ever.
5The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
6The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
8All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10Is there anything of which one can say,
‘Look! This is something new’?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
11No-one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.
Wisdom is meaningless
12I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
15What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16I said to myself, ‘Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.’ 17Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
18For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.
