Ecclesiastes 1
1 [I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
Devit capa, phungdeikung Jerusalem siangpahrang ni a dei e lawk teh,
2 I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
Ahrawnghrang doeh, ahrawnghrang doeh. Bangpueng hai ahrawnghrang doeh.
3 (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]
Kanî rahim vah tami ni a tawksak e pueng bang hawinae maw kaawm.
4 [Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
Se buet touh aloum teh se alouke bout a tâco. Hatei, talai teh a kangning.
5 [Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
Kanî a tâco teh bout a khup. Hatei, a tâconae koehoi bout bout a tâco.
6 The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
Kahlî haiyah a kâheinae koe lah bout bout a kâhei.
7 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.
Tuipuinaw a lawng teh talîpui dawk koung a kâcu eiteh kawi hoeh. Talîpui teh a lawngnae koelah bout bout a ban.
8 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.
Bangpueng hai tami ni dei thai hoeh totouh patangnae a kâhmo. Mit ni a khet eiteh hmawt thai hoeh. Hnâ ni a thai eiteh boum thai hoeh.
9 [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].
Hno kaawm tangcoung e hai bout kaawm hane hoi a kâvan. Atu sak e hai bout sak hane hoi a kâvan. Kanî rahim vah hno katha awm hoeh.
10 Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
Khenhaw! hno katha buet tabang ao maw awm hoeh, ayan vah yo kaawm tangcoung e doeh.
11 [People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
Ayan kaawm boi e hnonaw ouk pahnim thai awh. Ka tho hane naw hai ka tho hane naw ni bout a pahnim awh han.
12 I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
Kai, phungdeikung, Jerusalem khopui dawk Isarel siangpahrang lah ka o nah,
13 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.
Kanî rahim vah sakyoe e pueng thoumthainae lahoi pakhingpalang lungthin ka tawng. Cathut ni taminaw koe khoram sak nahanelah a patangpalai sak.
14 It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
Kanî rahim e hnosak e pueng ka hmu toe. Bangpueng ahrawnghrang doeh. Kahlî ka man e hoi doeh a kâvan.
15 [Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
Ka longkawi e teh palan thai hoeh. Kamko e hno teh touk mahoeh.
16 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!”
Kama hoi kama ka kâdei e teh, kai teh Jerusalem kauknaw pueng hlakvah ka talue, ka lung a ang, ka lungthin ni lungangnae hah alawkpui lah a kamtu.
17 [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.
Lungangnae hoi pathunae, polainae pakhingpalang ka tawn. Hot naw haiyah, kahlî man e patetlah doeh ao.
18 The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
Lungangnae apap nah, lungreithainae a pap. Thoumthainae apapnae koe lungmathoenae hoe a pap.
