Mpitoriteny 1
1 Ny tenin’ i Mpitoriteny, zanak’ i Davida, mpanjaka tany Jerosalema.
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 Zava-poana dia zava-poana, hoy Mpitoriteny, zava-poana dia zava-poana, eny, zava-poana ny zavatra rehetra!
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 Inona no soa azon’ ny olona amin’ ny fisasarany rehetra izay isasarany atỳ ambanin’ ny masoandro?
(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 Lasa ny taranaka iray, ary mandimby kosa ny taranaka iray; fa ny tany mbola maharitra mandrakizay.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 Ny masoandro koa miposaka ary ny masoandro milentika sady miriotra ho any amin’ ny fitoerana izay niposahany.
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 Mianatsimo ny rivotra, dia mihodìna mianavaratra, mivezivezy mandrakariva izy ka miverimberina manodidina indray.
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
7 Ny renirano rehetra dia samy mankamin’ ny ranomasina, nefa tsy tondraka ny ranomasina; any amin’ izay falehan’ ny renirano ihany no iverenany indray.
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 Maivana ny teny rehetra, ka tsy misy olona mahalaza; ny maso tsy mamo mijery, ary ny sofina tsy mamo mihaino.
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 Izay efa teo ihany no ho tonga indray, ary izay efa natao ihany no mbola hatao indray fa tsy misy zava-baovao akory atỳ ambanin’ ny masoandro.
[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 Raha misy zavatra azo lazaina hoe: He! ity no vaovao, dia ilay efa teo ela tany amin’ ny andro talohantsika ihany izany.
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 Tsy misy fahatsiarovana ny taloha; ary ny ho avy koa dia tsy hotsarovan’ izay handimby azy.
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
12 Izaho Mpitoriteny dia mpanjakan’ ny Isiraely tany Jerosalema;
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 ary nampiasaiko ny foko mba hitady sy hikatsaka amim-pahendrena ny zavatra rehetra izay atao atỳ ambanin’ ny lanitra; asa mahareraka omen’ Andriamanitra hisasaran’ ny zanak’ olombelona izany.
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 Efa hitako ny zavatra rehetra izay atao atỳ ambanin’ ny masoandro; fa, indro, zava-poana sy misambo-drivotra foana izany rehetra izany.
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
15 Ny meloka tsy mety tonga mahitsy; ary ny tsy ao tsy mba azo isaina.
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 Hoy izaho tamin’ ny foko: Indro, izaho nahazo fahendrena be dia be mihoatra noho izay rehetra talohako teto Jerosalema; eny, ny foko nahita ny fahendrena sy ny fahalalana betsaka.
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 Ary nampiasaiko ny foko hahalala fahendrena sy hahalala fahaverezan-tsaina sy fahadalana; dia fantatro fa misambo-drivotra foana koa izany,
[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 satria izay be fahendrena dia be alahelo, ary izay mitombo fahalalana dia mitombo fahoriana.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
