< קֹהֶלֶת 1 >
דִּבְרֵי קֹהֶלֶת בֶּן־דָּוִד מֶלֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃ | 1 |
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר קֹהֶלֶת הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַכֹּל הָֽבֶל׃ | 2 |
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
מַה־יִּתְרוֹן לָֽאָדָם בְּכׇל־עֲמָלוֹ שֶֽׁיַּעֲמֹל תַּחַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃ | 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]
דּוֹר הֹלֵךְ וְדוֹר בָּא וְהָאָרֶץ לְעוֹלָם עֹמָֽדֶת׃ | 4 |
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
וְזָרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ וְאֶל־מְקוֹמוֹ שׁוֹאֵף זוֹרֵחַֽ הוּא שָֽׁם׃ | 5 |
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
הוֹלֵךְ אֶל־דָּרוֹם וְסוֹבֵב אֶל־צָפוֹן סוֹבֵב ׀ סֹבֵב הוֹלֵךְ הָרוּחַ וְעַל־סְבִיבֹתָיו שָׁב הָרֽוּחַ׃ | 6 |
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
כׇּל־הַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים אֶל־הַיָּם וְהַיָּם אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא אֶל־מְקוֹם שֶׁהַנְּחָלִים הֹֽלְכִים שָׁם הֵם שָׁבִים לָלָֽכֶת׃ | 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.
כׇּל־הַדְּבָרִים יְגֵעִים לֹא־יוּכַל אִישׁ לְדַבֵּר לֹא־תִשְׂבַּע עַיִן לִרְאוֹת וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵא אֹזֶן מִשְּׁמֹֽעַ׃ | 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.
מַה־שֶּֽׁהָיָה הוּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה וּמַה־שֶּׁנַּֽעֲשָׂה הוּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂה וְאֵין כׇּל־חָדָשׁ תַּחַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃ | 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].
יֵשׁ דָּבָר שֶׁיֹּאמַר רְאֵה־זֶה חָדָשׁ הוּא כְּבָר הָיָה לְעֹֽלָמִים אֲשֶׁר הָיָה מִלְּפָנֵֽנוּ׃ | 10 |
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
אֵין זִכְרוֹן לָרִאשֹׁנִים וְגַם לָאַחֲרֹנִים שֶׁיִּהְיוּ לֹֽא־יִהְיֶה לָהֶם זִכָּרוֹן עִם שֶׁיִּהְיוּ לָאַחֲרֹנָֽה׃ | 11 |
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
אֲנִי קֹהֶלֶת הָיִיתִי מֶלֶךְ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃ | 12 |
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
וְנָתַתִּי אֶת־לִבִּי לִדְרוֹשׁ וְלָתוּר בַּֽחׇכְמָה עַל כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר נַעֲשָׂה תַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם הוּא ׀ עִנְיַן רָע נָתַן אֱלֹהִים לִבְנֵי הָאָדָם לַעֲנוֹת בּֽוֹ׃ | 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.
רָאִיתִי אֶת־כׇּל־הַֽמַּעֲשִׂים שֶֽׁנַּעֲשׂוּ תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ וְהִנֵּה הַכֹּל הֶבֶל וּרְעוּת רֽוּחַ׃ | 14 |
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
מְעֻוָּת לֹא־יוּכַל לִתְקֹן וְחֶסְרוֹן לֹא־יוּכַל לְהִמָּנֽוֹת׃ | 15 |
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
דִּבַּרְתִּי אֲנִי עִם־לִבִּי לֵאמֹר אֲנִי הִנֵּה הִגְדַּלְתִּי וְהוֹסַפְתִּי חׇכְמָה עַל כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר־הָיָה לְפָנַי עַל־יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם וְלִבִּי רָאָה הַרְבֵּה חׇכְמָה וָדָֽעַת׃ | 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!”
וָאֶתְּנָה לִבִּי לָדַעַת חׇכְמָה וְדַעַת הוֹלֵלֹת וְשִׂכְלוּת יָדַעְתִּי שֶׁגַּם־זֶה הוּא רַעְיוֹן רֽוּחַ׃ | 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.
כִּי בְּרֹב חׇכְמָה רׇב־כָּעַס וְיוֹסִיף דַּעַת יוֹסִיף מַכְאֽוֹב׃ | 18 |
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.