Ɔsɛnkafo 8 – AKCB & NIVUK

Akuapem Twi Contemporary Bible

Ɔsɛnkafo 8:1-17

1Hena na ɔte sɛ onyansafo?

Hena na onim sɛnea nneɛma te?

Nimdeɛ te nnipa anim,

na ɛbrɛ ne denyɛ ase.

Yɛ Osetie Ma Ɔhene

2Mise: Di ɔhene mmaransɛm so, efisɛ wokaa ntam wɔ Onyankopɔn anim. 3Mpɛ ntɛm mfi ɔhene anim. Nnyina mu mma obi asɛm a ɛnyɛ dɛ na onii no anyɛ nea ɔpɛ biara. 4Esiane sɛ ɔhene asɛm boro obiara de so nti, hena na obetumi aka akyerɛ no se: “Dɛn na woreyɛ yi?”

5Nea odi ne mmaransɛm so no renkɔ ɔhaw biara mu,

na nyansa koma behu bere a ɛsɛ, ne ne kwan.

6Nneyɛe biara wɔ ne bere a ɛfata ne kwan a wɔfa so yɛ,

nanso onipa haw hyɛ no so bebree.

7Esiane sɛ obiara nnim daakye asɛm nti,

hena na obetumi akyerɛ ɔfoforo nea ɛreba?

8Obiara nni mframa so tumi na waboa ano;

saa ara na obiara nni ne wuda so tumi.

Sɛ wonnyaa obiara wɔ ɔko bere mu no,

saa ara na amumɔyɛ rennyaa wɔn a wodi amumɔyɛsɛm no.

9Mihuu eyinom nyinaa bere a medwenee nneɛma a wɔyɛ wɔ owia yi ase no ho. Bere bi wɔ hɔ a onipa hyɛ afoforo so ma ɛdan ɔhaw ma no. 10Bio, mihuu sɛ wɔasie amumɔyɛfo, wɔn a anka wodi akɔneaba wɔ kronkronbea hɔ de gye nkamfo wɔ kuropɔn a wɔyɛɛ saa no mu. Eyi nso yɛ ahuhude.

11Sɛ bɔne bi ho asotwe amma ntɛm a, nnipa dwene nhyehyɛe a wɔde yɛ bɔne ho. 12Ɛwɔ mu sɛ omumɔyɛfo bi yɛ bɔne mpɛn ɔha nanso ɔtena ase kyɛ, nanso minim sɛ ebesi wɔn a wosuro Onyankopɔn no yiye, wɔn a wodi Onyankopɔn ni no. 13Nanso esiane sɛ amumɔyɛfo nsuro Onyankopɔn nti, ɛrensi wɔn yiye na wɔn nna renware sɛ sunsuma.

14Ade bi nso a ɛyɛ ahuhude a esi wɔ asase so, ɛne sɛ, atreneefo bi nya akatua a ɛfata amumɔyɛfo, na amumɔyɛfo bi nya akatua a ɛfata atreneefo. Eyi nso, mise ɛyɛ ahuhude. 15Enti mekamfo wiase mu anigye, efisɛ biribiara nni owia yi ase a eye ma onipa sen sɛ obedidi, anom ama nʼani agye. Na afei obenya anigye wɔ nʼadwumayɛ mu wɔ nna a Onyankopɔn ama no wɔ owia yi ase nyinaa.

16Bere a mepɛ sɛ mɛte nimdeɛ ase ne ɔbrɛ adwuma a onipa yɛ wɔ asase so a ɔnna awia anaa anadwo no, 17mihuu nea Onyankopɔn ayɛ nyinaa. Obiara rentumi nte nea ɛkɔ so wɔ owia yi ase no ase. Ne mmɔdemmɔ nyinaa akyi, onipa rentumi nhu nkyerɛase da. Sɛ mpo onyansafo bi ka se onim a, ɔrentumi nte ase yiye da.

New International Version – UK

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17

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.