1Ndani angafanane ndi munthu wanzeru?
Ndani angadziwe kutanthauzira zinthu?
Nzeru imabweretsa chimwemwe pa nkhope ya munthu
ndipo imasintha maonekedwe ake awukali.
Za Kumvera Mfumu
2Ine ndikuti, mvera lamulo la mfumu, chifukwa unalumbira pamaso pa Mulungu. 3Usafulumire kuchoka pamaso pa mfumu. Usawumirire chinthu choyipa, pakuti mfumu idzachita chilichonse chomwe imasangalatsidwa nacho. 4Popeza mawu a mfumu ali ndi mphamvu, ndani anganene kwa mfumuyo kuti, “Kodi mukuchita chiyani?”
5Aliyense amene amamvera lamulo lake sadzapeza vuto lililonse,
ndipo munthu wanzeru amadziwa nthawi yoyenera ndi machitidwe ake.
6Pakuti pali nthawi yoyenera ndiponso machitidwe a chinthu chilichonse,
ngakhale kuti mavuto ake a munthu amupsinja kwambiri.
7Popeza palibe munthu amene amadziwa zamʼtsogolo,
ndani angamuwuze zomwe zidzachitika mʼtsogolo?
8Palibe munthu amene ali ndi mphamvu yolamulira mpweya wa moyo kuti athe kuwusunga,
choncho palibe amene ali ndi mphamvu pa tsiku la imfa yake.
Nkhondo sithawika; tsono anthu ochita zoyipa,
kuyipa kwawoko sikudzawapulumutsa.
9Zonsezi ndinaziona pamene ndinalingalira mu mtima mwanga, zonse zimene zimachitika pansi pano. Ilipo nthawi imene ena amalamulira anzawo mwankhanza. 10Kenaka, ndinaona anthu oyipa akuyikidwa mʼmanda, iwo amene ankalowa ndi kumatuluka mʼmalo opatulika ndipo ankatamandidwa mu mzindawo pamene ankachita zimenezi. Izinso ndi zopandapake.
11Pamene chigamulo cha anthu opalamula mlandu chikuchedwa, mitima ya anthu imadzaza ndi malingaliro ochita zolakwa. 12Ngakhale munthu woyipa apalamule milandu yambirimbiri, nʼkumakhalabe ndi moyo wautali, ine ndikudziwa kuti anthu owopa Mulungu zinthu zidzawayendera bwino, omwe amapereka ulemu pamaso pa Mulungu. 13Koma popeza oyipa saopa Mulungu zinthu sizidzawayendera bwino, ndipo moyo wawo sudzakhalitsa monga mthunzi.
14Palinso chinthu china chopanda phindu chomwe chimachitika pa dziko lapansi: anthu olungama amalangidwa ngati anthu osalungama. Pamene oyipa amalandira zabwino ngati kuti ndi anthu abwino. 15Nʼchifukwa chake ndikuti munthu azikondwerera moyo, pakuti munthu alibe chinanso chabwino pansi pano choposa kudya, kumwa ndi kumadzikondweretsa. Akamatero, munthuyo adzakhala ndi chimwemwe pa ntchito yake masiku onse a moyo wake amene Mulungu wamupatsa pansi pano.
16Pamene ndinayikapo mtima wanga kuti ndidziwe nzeru ndi kuonetsetsa ntchito za munthu pa dziko lapansi, osapeza tulo usana ndi usiku, 17pamenepo ndinaona zonse zimene Mulungu anazichita. Palibe munthu amene angathe kuzimvetsa zonse zimene zimachitika pansi pano. Ngakhale munthu ayesetse kuzifufuza, sangathe kupeza tanthauzo lake. Ngakhale munthu wanzeru atanena kuti iye amadziwa, sangathe kuzimvetsetsa zinthuzo.
1Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
Obey the king
2Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
5Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
7Since no-one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8As no-one has power over the wind to contain it,
so8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so no-one has power over the time of their death.
As no-one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practise it.
9All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own8:9 Or to their hurt. 10Then too, I saw the wicked buried – those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 15So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labour that is done on earth – people getting no sleep day or night – 17then I saw all that God has done. No-one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no-one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
