Ecclesiastes 8
1 Mwet lalmwetmet mukena pa etu lah mea na pwaye kalmen ma uh. Lalmwetmet uh oru elos israsr srisrik ac tia ngetnget in sulung.
Who [is] as the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 Oru ma tokosra el fahk, ac nik kom oru kutena wuleang ingunyar nu sin God.
I [counsel]: keep the command of a king, even for the sake of an oath [to] God.
3 Tokosra el ku in oru kutena ma el lungse, ke ma inge fahsr liki yen el muta we, ac nimet muta in acn sensen se inge.
Do not be troubled at his presence, you may go, do not stand in an evil thing, for all that he pleases he does.
4 Tokosra el orekma ke ku lun wal lal; wangin mwet ku in kusen siyuk ke ma el oru.
Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who says to him, “What do you do?”
5 Ke lusen na pacl kom akos sap lal, wangin ma koluk ac sikyak nu sum; ac sie mwet lalmwetmet el etu lah pia pacl wo, ac el ac oru fuka ma inge.
Whoever is keeping a command knows no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knows.
6 Oasr pacl wo se, ac inkanek pwaye se in oru kutena ma, tuh sriklana etu lasr!
For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great on him.
7 Wangin sesr etu lah mea ac sikyak uh, ac wangin mwet in fahkma nu sesr.
For he does not know that which will be, for when it will be who declares to him?
8 Wangin sie mwet oasr ku la fin ngun, ac wangin sie ku in kolla len in misa lal. Pa inge sie mweun kut koflana kaingkunla. Kom ac tia ku in molla kom fin oru na ma koluk.
There is no man ruling over the spirit to restrain the spirit, and there is no authority over the day of death, and there is no discharge in battle, and wickedness does not deliver its possessors.
9 Nga liye ma inge nukewa ke nga sang insiuk in arulana nunku ke ma orek fin facl se inge — sie facl su kutu mwet uh funmweti kutu, ac kewana ac keok.
All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that has been done under the sun; a time that man has ruled over man to his own evil.
10 Aok, nga liye ke mwet koluk uh pukpuki in kulyuk lalos, sruk ke elos moul elos uti utyak nu in acn mutal. Na ke mwet uh folok liki kulyuk uh elos kaksakin mwet misa inge in siti se na ma elos tuh oru ma koluk we. Ma inge wangin sripa.
And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This [is] also vanity.
11 Efu ku mwet uh pulaikna in oru ma koluk? Mweyen kaiyen ma koluk uh pahtla in orek.
Because sentence has not been done [on] an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.
12 Sie mwet koluk el ku in orala ma koluk pacl siofok ac loesna moul lal. Tusruktu nga etu na pwaye lah, “Elos su sangeng sin God ac akfulatyal pa ac wo nu se,
Though a sinner is doing evil one hundred [times], and prolonging [himself] for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.
13 a ac tia wo nu sin mwet koluk uh. Moul lalos oana sie ohk, ac elos fah fusr na misa, mweyen elos tiana sangeng sin God.”
And good is not to the wicked, and he does not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.
14 Tusruktu ma inge wangin pac sripa. Liyewin ma sikyak fin faclu: kutu pacl uh kaiyuk mwet suwoswos uh oana mwet koluk, ac mwet koluk elos eis mwe insewowo ma fal nu sin mwet suwoswos. Nga ku in fahk mu arulana wangin sripa.
There is a vanity that has been done on the earth, that there are righteous ones to whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones to whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this [is] also vanity.
15 Ke ma inge nga arulana akkeye tuh sie mwet in engan ke moul lal, mweyen pwayena mwe akwoyal in moul se inge pa in mongo, ac nim, ac insewowo ke ma su oasr yorol. Pa inge ma el ku in oru ke pacl el orekma in moul se inge su God El sang nu sel fin faclu.
And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remains with him of his labor the days of his life that God has given to him under the sun.
16 Pacl nukewa nga tuh srike in eis lalmwetmet ac lutlut ke ma orek fin faclu, nga akilenak lah mwet se ku in ngetngetna ac tia motul ke fong ac len,
When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that has been done on the earth (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),
17 ac tiana ku in kalem ke ma God El oru. Mwet se finne suk ke kuiyal, el tia ku in konauk. Mwet lalmwetmet uh ac ku in fahk mu elos etu, tusruktu elos tiana etu.
then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that has been done under the sun, because though man labor to seek, yet he does not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.
