Nyagblɔla 1
1 Esiawoe nye Nyagblɔla Solomo, Fia David si nɔ Yerusalem la ƒe viŋutsu ƒe nyawo:
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 Le nye nugɔmesese nu la, viɖe aɖeke mele naneke ŋu o; nu sia nu nye tofloko ko.
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 Viɖe kae ame kpɔna tso agbagba siwo katã wòdzena le ɣea te la me?
(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 Dzidzime ɖeka nu va yina eye bubu vana, ke anyigba ya ganɔa anyi nenema ko tegbee.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 Ɣe hã dzena eye wòɖoa to; eɖea abla yia afi si wòdze tso.
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 Ya ƒona ɖoa ta dziehe eye wòtrɔna yia anyiehe. Etrɔna toa eme madzudzɔmadzudzɔe eye wògatrɔna yia afi si wòdze egɔme tsoe.
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
7 Tɔsisiwo katã sina yia atsiaƒu me, ke atsiaƒu la meyɔna gbeɖe o. Tsi la gatrɔna yia tɔsisiawo me eye wògatsana yia atsiaƒu la me.
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 Nuwo katã le dagbadagba dzi eye amegbetɔ mate ŋu aƒo nu le eŋu wòade edeƒe o: nukpɔkpɔ meɖia kɔ na ŋku o abe ale si nyasese meɖia ƒo na to o ene.
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 Nu siwo nɔ anyi va yi la, woawo ke koe agatrɔ ava eye nu siwo wowɔ kpɔ la, woawo ke ko woagawɔ. Nu yeye aɖeke mele ɣe la te o.
[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 Nane koŋ li si ŋu woate ŋu agblɔ le be, “Kpɔ ɖa, nu sia ya nye nu yeye” mahã? Enɔ anyi kpɔ le blema ke, do ŋgɔ na mí.
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 Womegaɖoa ŋku blematɔwo dzi o; nenema ke ame siwo woava dzi la, maɖo ŋku nu siwo dzɔ do ŋgɔ na woƒe dzidzi dzi o.
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
12 Nye, Nyagblɔla, meɖu fia ɖe Israel dzi le Yerusalem.
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 Medze agbagba be manya nu tso nu siwo katã wowɔna le ɣea te la ŋu. Medze sii be dzidzɔkpɔkpɔ aɖeke mele nu si Mawu ɖo na amegbetɔ be wòawɔ la me o.
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 Mekpɔ dɔ siwo katã wowɔna le ɣea te eye kpɔ ɖa, esiawo katã nye tofloko kple dagbadagba ɖe yame ko.
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
15 Nu si glɔ̃ da ɖi la, womagate ŋu adzɔe o eye nu si meli o la, womate ŋu axlẽe o.
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 Megblɔ le nye dzi me be, “Kpɔ ɖa, menya nu wu ame siwo katã ɖu fia le Yerusalem do ŋgɔ nam. Ɛ̃, nuteƒekpɔkpɔ, nunya kple gɔmesese yɔ nye dzi me fũu wu wo.”
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 Meɖo ta me be madze si nunya, eye manya nu tso tsukuku kple bometsitsi ŋu, ke meva dze sii be esiawo katã nye dagbadagba dzodzro ɖe yame ko;
[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 elabena nuxaxa sɔ gbɔ ɖe nunya geɖe me, eye ame sia ame si dzia sidzedze ɖe edzi la, dzia nuxaxa ɖe edzi.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
