ሁሉም ነገር ከንቱ ነው
1በኢየሩሳሌም የነገሠው፣ የዳዊት ልጅ፣ የሰባኪው ቃል1፥1 ወይም የጕባኤ መሪ፤ እንዲሁም በ2 እና 12፤
2ሰባኪው፣
“ከንቱ፣ ከንቱ፣
የከንቱ ከንቱ፤
ሁሉም ነገር ከንቱ ነው” ይላል።
3ከፀሓይ በታች ከሚለፋበት ተግባር ሁሉ፣
ሰው ምን ትርፍ ያገኛል?
4ትውልድ ይሄዳል፤ ትውልድ ይመጣል፤
ምድር ግን ለዘላለም ጸንታ ትኖራለች።
5ፀሓይ ትወጣለች፤ ትጠልቃለችም፤
ወደምትወጣበትም ለመመለስ ትጣደፋለች።
6ነፋስ ወደ ደቡብ ይነፍሳል፤
ወደ ሰሜንም ይመለሳል፤
ዞሮ ዞሮ ይሄዳል፤
ዘወትርም ወደ ዑደቱ ይመለሳል።
7ወንዞች ሁሉ ወደ ባሕር ይፈስሳሉ፤
ባሕሩ ግን ፈጽሞ አይሞላም፤
ወንዞች ወደ መጡበት ስፍራ፣
ወደዚያ እንደ ገና ይመለሳሉ።
8ሰው መናገር ከሚችለው በላይ፣
ነገሮች ሁሉ አድካሚ ናቸው፤
ዐይን ከማየት አይጠግብም፤
ጆሮም በመስማት አይሞላም።
9የነበረው ነገር እንደ ገና ይሆናል፤
የተደረገውም ተመልሶ ይደረጋል፤
ከፀሓይ በታች ምንም አዲስ ነገር የለም።
10ማንም፣ “እነሆ፤ ይህ አዲስ ነገር ነው!”
ሊል የሚችለው አንዳች ነገር አለን?
ቀድሞውኑ በዚሁ የነበረ ነው፤
ከእኛ በፊት የሆነ ነው።
11የቀድሞ ነገሮች መታሰቢያ የላቸውም፤
ወደ ፊት የሚመጡትም ቢሆኑ፣
ከእነርሱ በኋላ በሚተኩት አይታወሱም።
ጥበብ ከንቱ ነው
12እኔ ሰባኪው፣ በኢየሩሳሌም የእስራኤል ንጉሥ ነበርሁ። 13ከሰማይ በታች የተደረገውን ሁሉ በጥበብ ለማጥናትና ለመመርመር ራሴን አተጋሁ፤ አምላክ በሰዎች ላይ የጫነው እንዴት ያለ ከባድ ሸክም ነው! 14ከፀሓይ በታች የተደረገውን ነገር ሁሉ አየሁ፤ ሁሉም ከንቱ፣ ነፋስንም እንደ መከተል ነው።
15የተጣመመው ሊቃና አይችልም፤
የሌለም ነገር ሊቈጠር አይችልም።
16እኔም በልቤ፣ “እነሆ፤ ከእኔ በፊት በኢየሩሳሌም ከገዙት ከማንኛቸውም ይልቅ ታላቅ ሆኛለሁ፤ ጥበብም በዝቶልኛል፤ በብዙ ጥበብና ዕውቀት ተመክሮም ዐልፌአለሁ” አልሁ። 17ከዚያም የጥበብንና የእብደትን፣ የሞኝነትንም ነገር ለመገንዘብ ራሴን አተጋሁ፤ ይህም ነፋስን እንደ መከተል መሆኑን ተረዳሁ።
18ጥበብ ሲበዛ፣ ትካዜ ይበዛልና፤
ዕውቀት ሲጨምርም ሐዘን ይበዛል።
Everything Is Meaningless
1These are the words of the Teacher. He was the son of David. He was also the king in Jerusalem.
2“Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Everything is completely meaningless!
Nothing has any meaning.”
3What do people get for all their work?
Why do they work so hard on this earth?
4People come and people go.
But the earth remains forever.
5The sun rises. Then it sets.
And then it hurries back to where it rises.
6The wind blows to the south.
Then it turns to the north.
Around and around it goes.
It always returns to where it started.
7Every stream flows into the ocean.
But the ocean never gets full.
The streams return
to the place they came from.
8All things are tiresome.
They are more tiresome than anyone can say.
But our eyes never see enough of anything.
Our ears never hear enough.
9Everything that has ever been will come back again.
Everything that has ever been done will be done again.
Nothing is new on earth.
10There isn’t anything about which someone can say,
“Look! Here’s something new.”
It was already here long ago.
It was here before we were.
11No one remembers the people of long ago.
Even those who haven’t been born yet
won’t be remembered
by those who will be born after them.
Wisdom Is Meaningless
12I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I decided to study things carefully. I used my wisdom to check everything out. I looked into everything that is done on earth. What a heavy load God has put on human beings! 14I’ve seen what is done on this earth. All of it is meaningless. It’s like chasing the wind.
15People can’t straighten things that are crooked.
They can’t count things that don’t even exist.
16I said to myself, “Look, I’ve now grown wiser than anyone who ruled over Jerusalem in the past. I have a lot of wisdom and knowledge.” 17Then I used my mind to understand what it really means to be wise. And I wanted to know what foolish pleasure is all about. But I found out that it’s also like chasing the wind.
18A lot of human wisdom leads to a lot of sorrow.
More knowledge only brings more sadness.
