Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who is as the wise man? and who knows the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom makes his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
Hwan na ɔte sɛ onyansafoɔ? Hwan na ɔnim sɛdeɛ nneɛma teɛ? Nimdeɛ te nnipa anim na ɛbrɛ ne denyɛ ase.
2 I counsel you to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
Mese: Di ɔhene ɔhyɛ nsɛm so, ɛfiri sɛ wokaa ntam wɔ Onyankopɔn anim.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he does whatever pleases him.
Mpɛ ntɛm mfiri ɔhene anim. Nnyina mu mma obi asɛm a ɛnyɛ dɛ, na onii no anyɛ deɛ ɔpɛ biara.
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say to him, What do you?
Esiane sɛ ɔhene asɛm boro obiara deɛ so enti, hwan na ɔbɛtumi aka akyerɛ no sɛ: “Ɛdeɛn na woreyɛ yi?”
5 Whoever keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.
Deɛ ɔdi ne nhyɛ nsɛm so no renkɔ ɔhaw biara mu, na nyansa akoma bɛhunu ɛberɛ a ɛsɛ, ne ne kwan.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great on him.
Adeyɛ biara wɔ ne ɛberɛ a ɛfata ne ɛkwan a wɔfa so yɛ, nanso onipa haw hyɛ no so bebree.
7 For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Esiane sɛ obiara nnim daakye asɛm enti, hwan na ɔbɛtumi akyerɛ no deɛ ɛreba?
8 There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
Obiara nni mframa so tumi na waboa ano; saa ara na obiara nni ne wuda so tumi. Na sɛdeɛ wɔmma obiara nkɔ ahomegyeɛ wɔ ɔko berɛ mu no, saa ara na amumuyɛ rennyaa wɔn a wɔdi amumuyɛsɛm.
9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man rules over another to his own hurt.
Mehunuu yeinom nyinaa ɛberɛ a medwenee nneɛma a wɔyɛ wɔ owia yi ase ho. Ɛberɛ bi wɔ hɔ a onipa hyɛ afoforɔ so ma ɛdane ɔhaw ma no.
10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
Bio, mehunuu sɛ wɔasie amumuyɛfoɔ, wɔn a anka wɔdi akɔneaba wɔ kronkronbea hɔ de gye nkamfo wɔ kuropɔn a wɔyɛɛ saa no mu. Yei nso yɛ ahuhudeɛ.
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Sɛ bɔne bi ho asotwe amma ntɛm a, nnipa dwene nhyehyɛeɛ a wɔde yɛ bɔne ho.
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
Ɛwom sɛ omumuyɛfoɔ bi yɛ bɔne mpɛn ɔha nanso ɔtena ase kyɛ, nanso menim sɛ ɛbɛsi wɔn a wɔsuro Onyankopɔn no yie, wɔn a wɔdi Onyankopɔn ni no.
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he fears not before God.
Nanso ɛsiane sɛ amumuyɛfoɔ nsuro Onyankopɔn enti, ɛrensi wɔn yie na wɔn nna renware sɛ sunsumma.
14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth; that there be just men, to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
Adeɛ bi nso a ɛyɛ ahuhudeɛ a ɛsi wɔ asase so, ɛne sɛ, ateneneefoɔ bi nya akatua a ɛfata amumuyɛfoɔ, na amumuyɛfoɔ bi nya akatua a ɛfata ateneneefoɔ. Yei nso, mese ɛyɛ ahuhudeɛ.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.
Enti mekamfo ewiase mu anigyeɛ, ɛfiri sɛ biribiara nni owia yi ase a ɛyɛ ma onipa sene sɛ ɔbɛdidi, anom ama nʼani agye. Na afei ɔbɛnya anigyeɛ wɔ nʼadwumayɛ mu wɔ nna a Onyankopɔn ama no wɔ owia yi ase nyinaa.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes: )
Ɛberɛ a mepɛ sɛ mɛte nimdeɛ ase ne ɔbrɛ adwuma a onipa yɛ wɔ asase so a ɔnna awia anaa anadwo no,
17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yes farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
mehunuu deɛ Onyankopɔn ayɛ nyinaa. Obiara rentumi nte deɛ ɛkɔ so wɔ owia yi ase no ase. Ne mmɔdemmɔ nyinaa akyi, onipa rentumi nhunu asekyerɛ da. Sɛ mpo onyansafoɔ bi ka sɛ ɔnim a, ɔrentumi nte aseɛ yie da.
