Prædikeren 1
1 Ord af Prædikeren, Davids Søn, Kongen i Jerusalem.
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 Forfængeligheders Forfængelighed! sagde Prædikeren, Forfængeligheders Forfængelighed, alt sammen Forfængelighed.
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 Hvad Fordel har Mennesket af al sin Møje, som han plager sig med under Solen?
(What do people gain from all the work that they do here on the earth?/It seems that people gain no lasting benefit from all the work that they do here on the earth.) [RHQ]
4 En Slægt gaar, og en Slægt kommer; men Jorden staar evindelig.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 Og Solen gaar op, og Solen gaar ned, og den higer hen til sit Sted, hvor den gaar op.
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 Vinden gaar imod Sønden og drejer sig om imod Norden; den gaar frem, idet den vedbliver at dreje sig om, og til sine Kredse kommer Vinden tilbage.
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
7 Alle Bække løbe i Havet, og Havet bliver ikke fuldt; til det Sted, fra hvilket Floderne løbe, derhen komme de tilbage for at løbe.
All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is never full. The water returns [to the sky], and [when it rains], the water returns to the rivers, and it flows again to the sea.
8 Alt hvad man kunde nævne herom, vilde blive mat, ingen kunde udsige det; Øjet mættes ej af at se, og Øret fyldes ej af at høre.
Everything is boring, [with the result that] we do not even want to talk about it. We [SYN] see things, but we always want to see more. We [SYN] hear things, but we always want to hear more.
9 Hvad som var, det samme skal vorde, og hvad som er sket, det samme skal ske; og der er slet intet nyt under Solen.
[Everything continues to be the same as it has always been]; things that happen have happened previously, and they will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing [really] new in this world [MTY].
10 Er der noget, om hvilket man kan sige: Se, dette er nyt? Det var allerede i de forrige Tider, som have været før os.
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 Der er ingen Ihukommelse om de tidligere; og om de efterfølgende, som skulle komme, om dem skal der heller ikke være nogen Ihukommelse hos dem, som skulle være herefter.
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
12 Jeg, Prædikeren, jeg var Konge over Israel i Jerusalem.
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 Og jeg gav mit Hjerte hen til at ransage og til med Visdom at udforske alt det, som sker under Himmelen; det er en slem Plage, som Gud har givet Menneskens Børn at plage sig med.
By being wise, I concentrated on understanding everything that was being done on the earth [MTY]. [But I found out that] God causes [all of] us to experience things that cause us to be unhappy/miserable.
14 Jeg saa alle de Gerninger, som ere gjorte under Solen, og se, det var alt Forfængelighed og Aandsfortærelse.
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
15 Kroget kan ikke vorde ret, og Brøst kunne ikke tælles.
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 Jeg talte med mit Hjerte og sagde: Jeg, se, jeg er bleven stor og er gaaet frem i Visdom mere end alle de, som have været før mig i Jerusalem; og mit Hjerte har set megen Visdom og Kundskab.
I said to myself, “[Hey], I am wiser than any of the kings that ruled in Jerusalem before I [became the king]. I am wiser and I know more than any of them!”
17 Og jeg gav mit Hjerte hen til at forstaa Visdom og til at forstaa Galskab og Daarskab; jeg fornam, at ogsaa dette var Aandsfortærelse.
[So] I determined to learn [more] about being wise and to learn about knowing about many things, and [also] to learn about [doing things that are] very foolish [DOU]. [But] I found out that trying to understand those things was also [useless, like] chasing the wind.
18 Thi hvor megen Visdom er, der er megen Græmmelse; og den, som forøger sin Kundskab, forøger sin Smerte.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
