Ecclesiastes 1
1 Verba Ecclesiastæ, filii David, regis Jerusalem.
Here are the words of the Teacher, the king of Jerusalem, David's son.
2 Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes; vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas.
“Everything passes—it's so temporary! It's all so hard to understand!” says the Teacher.
3 Quid habet amplius homo de universo labore suo quo laborat sub sole?
What benefit do you get for slaving away in this life?
4 Generatio præterit, et generatio advenit; terra autem in æternum stat.
People come, and people go, but the earth lasts forever!
5 Oritur sol et occidit, et ad locum suum revertitur; ibique renascens,
The sun comes up, and the sun goes down, and then rushes to its place to rise again.
6 gyrat per meridiem, et flectitur ad aquilonem. Lustrans universa in circuitu pergit spiritus, et in circulos suos revertitur.
The wind blows south, and then turns to the north. Round and round it spins, finally coming full circle.
7 Omnia flumina intrant in mare, et mare non redundat; ad locum unde exeunt flumina revertuntur ut iterum fluant.
Streams all flow into the sea, but the sea never becomes full. The streams return to the place from where they came.
8 Cunctæ res difficiles; non potest eas homo explicare sermone. Non saturatur oculus visu, nec auris auditu impletur.
Everything just keeps on going. You can't say all there is to say. You can't see all there is to see. You can't hear all there is to hear.
9 Quid est quod fuit? Ipsum quod futurum est. Quid est quod factum est? Ipsum quod faciendum est.
Everything that was will continue to be; everything that has been done will be done again. Nothing new ever happens here.
10 Nihil sub sole novum, nec valet quisquam dicere: Ecce hoc recens est: jam enim præcessit in sæculis quæ fuerunt ante nos.
There's nothing anyone can point to and say, “Look! Here's something new.” In fact it's been around for ages, long before our time.
11 Non est priorum memoria; sed nec eorum quidem quæ postea futura sunt erit recordatio apud eos qui futuri sunt in novissimo.
The problem is we don't remember people from the past, and people in the future won't remember those who came before them.
12 Ego Ecclesiastes fui rex Israël in Jerusalem;
I am the Teacher, and I was king over Israel, reigning from Jerusalem.
13 et proposui in animo meo quærere et investigare sapienter de omnibus quæ fiunt sub sole. Hanc occupationem pessimam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut occuparentur in ea.
I decided to focus my mind to explore, using wisdom, everything that happens here on earth. This is a tough assignment that God has given people to keep them busy!
14 Vidi cuncta quæ fiunt sub sole, et ecce universa vanitas et afflictio spiritus.
I examined everything people do here on earth, and discovered that it's all so temporary—trying to understand it is like trying to pin down the wind!
15 Perversi difficile corriguntur, et stultorum infinitus est numerus.
You can't straighten what is twisted, and you can't count what isn't there.
16 Locutus sum in corde meo, dicens: Ecce magnus effectus sum, et præcessi omnes sapientia qui fuerunt ante me in Jerusalem; et mens mea contemplata est multa sapienter, et didici.
I thought to myself, “I've become very wise, wiser than all the kings of Jerusalem before me. My mind has gained a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.”
17 Dedique cor meum ut scirem prudentiam atque doctrinam, erroresque et stultitiam; et agnovi quod in his quoque esset labor et afflictio spiritus:
So I decided to use my mind to learn everything about wisdom, and madness and foolishness as well. But I found out that this is as hard as trying to catch hold of the wind.
18 eo quod in multa sapientia multa sit indignatio; et qui addit scientiam, addit et laborem.
For with great wisdom comes great frustration. The greater the knowledge, the greater the pain.
