Omubuulizi 1
1 Ebigambo by’Omubuulizi, mutabani wa Dawudi kabaka mu Yerusaalemi.
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 “Obutaliimu! Obutaliimu!” bw’ayogera Omubuulizi. Byonna butaliimu.
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 Omuntu afuna ki mu byonna by’akola, mu byonna ebimukooya wansi w’enjuba?
(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 Omulembe ogumu gugenda, omulala ne gujja, naye ensi ebeerera emirembe gyonna.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 Enjuba evaayo era n’egwa, ate n’eyanguwa okutuuka mu kifo mw’eviirayo.
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 Empewo ekunta ng’eraga obukiikaddyo, ne yeetooloola okutuuka obukiikakkono; empewo yeetooloola ne yeetooloola, n’ekomerawo ku biwaawaatiro byayo.
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
7 Emigga gyonna gikulukuta nga giraga mu nnyanja, naye ennyanja tejjula; ekifo emigga gye gikulukutira era gye gyeyongera okukulukutira.
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 Ebintu byonna bijjudde obukoowu omuntu bw’atasobola kutenda! Eriiso terimatira kulaba, wadde okutu okukoowa okuwulira.
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 Ekyo ekyabaawo era kye kigenda okubaawo, n’ekyo ekikoleddwa era kye kigenda okukolebwa; era tewali kintu kiggya wansi w’enjuba.
[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 Waali wabaddewo ekintu ekyali kigambiddwa nti, “Laba kino kiggya”? Kyaliwo dda mu mirembe egyatusooka?
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 Tewali kujjukira bintu byasooka era tewaliba kujjukira bintu ebyo ebitanabaawo mu ebyo ebijja oluvannyuma.
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
12 Nze Omubuulizi nali kabaka wa Isirayiri mu Yerusaalemi.
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 Nagezaako n’omutima gwange okuyiga n’okwetegereza n’amagezi gange gonna mu ebyo ebikolebwa wansi w’eggulu; omulimu Katonda gwe yawa abaana b’abantu okukola, guteganya.
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 Ndabye ebintu byonna ebikolebwa wansi w’enjuba; era laba, byonna butaliimu na kugoberera mpewo.
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
15 Ekyo ekyakyama tekisoboka kugololebwa, n’ekibulako tekibalibwa.
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 Nayogera munda yange nti, “Nfunye amagezi mangi agasinga ag’abo bonna abaali babadde mu Yerusaalemi, era nfunye amagezi n’okumanya kungi.”
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 Era omutima gwange ne gumanya okwawula amagezi n’eddalu, n’obutategeera. Ne ntegeera nti na kino nakyo kugoberera mpewo.
[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 Kubanga mu magezi amangi mujjiramu okunakuwala kungi; amagezi gye gakoma obungi, n’okunakuwala gye gukoma.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
