Mosakoli 1
1 Maloba ya Moteyi, mwana mobali ya Davidi, mokonzi na Yelusalemi.
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 Pamba na pamba, elobi Moteyi; pamba na pamba, nyonso ezali kaka pamba.
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 Moto azwaka litomba nini penza na misala nyonso oyo amonelaka pasi na se ya moyi?
(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 Eleko moko eleki, mpe eleko mosusu eyei, kasi mabele etikalaka kaka seko na seko.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 Moyi ebimaka mpe elalaka, bongo ezongaka na lombangu na esika oyo ebimelaka.
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 Mopepe ekeyi na ngambo ya sude, ebaluki na ngambo ya nor, ebaluki-baluki mpe ekeyi lisusu, ezongelaka kaka banzela wana.
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
7 Mayi nyonso ekendaka na ebale monene, kasi ebale monene etondaka te; mpe mayi yango ezongaka lisusu epai ewutaka.
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 Makambo nyonso elembisaka, moto oyo akoki kobeta na yango tembe azali te; nzokande, miso etondaka te na kotala, mpe matoyi etondaka te na koyoka.
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 Oyo ezalaki ekozala lisusu, oyo esalemaki ekosalema lisusu: likambo ya sika ezalaka te na se ya moyi.
[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 Boni, ezali penza na likambo moko oyo moto akoki koloba na tina yango: « Tala, oyo penza ezali likambo ya sika? » Te, esila komizalela kala, kala penza liboso ya eleko na biso.
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 Ndenge bato bayebaka lisusu bato ya kala te, ndenge wana mpe bato oyo bakoya sima bakotikala koyeba bango te na bato oyo bakolanda.
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
12 Ngai, Moteyi, nazalaki mokonzi ya Isalaele, na Yelusalemi.
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 Namipesaki mpo na koyekola mpe kososola na nzela ya bwanya, makambo nyonso oyo esalemaka na se ya moyi. Nzokande, ezali na yango kaka mosala ya mpunda oyo Nzambe apesa na bana ya bato mpo ete bamonela yango pasi!
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 Namona misala nyonso oyo esalemaka na se ya moyi; nyonso wana ezali kaka pamba, ezali lokola moto azali kolanda mopepe.
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
15 Bakoki te kosembola eloko oyo etengama, bakoki mpe te kotanga eloko oyo ezali te.
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 Namilobelaki: « Tala, nakolisi mpe nabakisi bwanya mingi koleka moto nyonso oyo azalaki liboso na ngai, na Yelusalemi. » Motema na ngai etondaki penza na bwanya mpe na boyebi ebele.
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 Namipesaki makasi mpo na koyekola bwanya mpe, lisusu, makambo ya bozoba mpe ya liboma; kasi nasosolaki ete yango mpe ezali kaka lokola moto azali kolanda mopepe.
[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 Pamba te kozala na bwanya mingi ememelaka moto pasi, mpe kozala na mayele mingi etungisaka motema.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
