Ecclesiastes 1
1 The wordis of Ecclesiastes, sone of Dauid, the kyng of Jerusalem.
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 The vanyte of vanytees, seide Ecclesiastes; the vanyte of vanytees, and alle thingis ben vanite.
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 What hath a man more of alle his trauel, bi which he traueilith vndur the sunne?
(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 Generacioun passith awei, and generacioun cometh; but the erthe stondith with outen ende.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 The sunne risith, and goith doun, and turneth ayen to his place;
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 and there it risith ayen, and cumpassith bi the south, and turneth ayen to the north. The spirit cumpassynge alle thingis goith `in cumpas, and turneth ayen in to hise cerclis.
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
7 Alle floodis entren in to the see, and the see fletith not ouer the markis set of God; the floodis turnen ayen to the place fro whennus tho comen forth, that tho flowe eft.
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 Alle thingis ben hard; a man may not declare tho thingis bi word; the iye is not fillid bi siyt, nether the eere is fillid bi hering.
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 What is that thing that was, that that schal come? What is that thing that is maad, that that schal be maad?
[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 No thing vndir the sunne is newe, nether ony man may seie, Lo! this thing is newe; for now it yede bifore in worldis, that weren bifore vs.
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 Mynde of the formere thingis is not, but sotheli nether thenkyng of tho thingis, that schulen come afterward, schal be at hem that schulen come in the last tyme.
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
12 I Ecclesiastes was king of Israel in Jerusalem;
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 and Y purposide in my soule to seke and enserche wiseli of alle thingis, that ben maad vndur the sunne. God yaf this werste ocupacioun to the sones of men, that thei schulden be ocupied therynne.
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 I siy alle thingis that ben maad vndur the sunne, and lo! alle thingis ben vanyte and turment of spirit.
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
15 Weiward men ben amendid of hard; and the noumbre of foolis is greet with outen ende.
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 I spak in myn herte, and Y seide, Lo! Y am made greet, and Y passide in wisdom alle men, that weren bifore me in Jerusalem; and my soule siy many thingis wiseli, and Y lernede.
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 And Y yaf myn herte, that Y schulde knowe prudence and doctryn, and errours and foli. And Y knew that in these thingis also was trauel and turment of spirit;
[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 for in myche wisdom is myche indignacioun, and he that encressith kunnyng, encreessith also trauel.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
