< उपदेशक 1 >
1 यी वचनहरू एक जना उपदेशकका हुन् जो दाऊदका छोरा र यरूशलेमका राजा थिए ।
Here are the words of the Teacher, the king of Jerusalem, David's son.
2 उपदेशक यसो भन्छन्, “तुवाँलोको बाफ र बतासमा भएको मन्द हावाजस्तै हरेक कुरा व्यर्थ छ, जसले धेरै प्रश्न उब्जाउँछ ।
“Everything passes—it's so temporary! It's all so hard to understand!” says the Teacher.
3 मानिसले सूर्यमूनि कठिन परिश्रम गर्दा सारा कामबाट उसले के लाभ पाउँछ र?
What benefit do you get for slaving away in this life?
4 एउटा पुस्ता जान्छ, र अर्को पुस्ता आउँछ, तर पृथ्वीचाहिँ सदासर्वदा रहिरहन्छ ।
People come, and people go, but the earth lasts forever!
5 सूर्य उदाउँछ, र अस्ताउँछ, अनि आफू उदाएको ठाउँमा चाँडै फर्केर जान्छ ।
The sun comes up, and the sun goes down, and then rushes to its place to rise again.
6 बतास दक्षिणतिर बहन्छ, र अनि सधैँ उत्तरतिर चक्कर मार्छ । त्यो सधैँ आफ्नो मार्गमा जाने र फर्कने गर्छ ।
The wind blows south, and then turns to the north. Round and round it spins, finally coming full circle.
7 सबै नदी समुद्रमा बगेर जान्छन्, तर समुद्र कहिल्यै भरिँदैन । जहाँ नदीहरू बहन्छन्, तिनीहरू फेरि त्यहीँ जान्छन् ।
Streams all flow into the sea, but the sea never becomes full. The streams return to the place from where they came.
8 हरेक कुरो विरक्तलाग्दो छ, र कसैले यसको वर्णन गर्न सक्दैन । आँखाले जे देख्छ, त्यसबाट यो सन्तुष्ट हुँदैन, न त कानले जे सुन्छ, त्यसबाट यो सन्तुष्ट हुन्छ ।
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 जे भएको छ, त्यो हुने छ, र जे गरिएको छ, त्यो गरिने छ । सूर्यमूनि केही पनि नयाँ छैन ।
Everything that was will continue to be; everything that has been done will be done again. Nothing new ever happens here.
10 के यस्तो कुनै कुरो छ जसको विषयमा 'हेर्, यो त नयाँ छ' भन्न सकिन्छ? जे अस्तित्वमा छ, त्यो लामो समयदेखि अस्तित्वमा रहिआएको छ, हामीभन्दा धेरै पहिले देखि रहँदै आएको छ ।
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 प्राचीन कालमा भएका कुराहरू कसैले सम्झन्छजस्तो छैन; धेरै पछि भएका कुराहरू र भविष्यमा हुने कुराहरू पनि कसैले सम्झने छजस्तो छैन ।”
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 म उपदेशक हुँ, र मैले यरूशलेममा राजा भएर शासन गरेको छु ।
I am the Teacher, and I was king over Israel, reigning from Jerusalem.
13 आकाशमूनि गरिने हरेक कुरोलाई बुद्धिद्वारा अध्ययन गर्न र अनुसन्धान गर्न मैले मेरो मन लगाएँ । त्यो अनुसन्धान एउटा कष्टकर काम हो जुन परमेश्वरले मानिसहरूलाई व्यस्त राख्न दिनुभएको हो ।
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 मैले सूर्यमूनि गरिने सबै काम देखेको छु, र ती सबै व्यर्थ छन् र बतासलाई खेदेजस्तो हो
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 बाङ्गोलाई सोझो बनाउन सकिँदैन । हराएकोलाई गन्न सकिँदैन ।
You can't straighten what is twisted, and you can't count what isn't there.
16 मैले मेरो मनलाई यसो भनेको छु, “हेर्, यरूशलेममा मभन्दा अगि भएका सबैले भन्दा मैले धेरै बुद्धि प्राप्त गरेको छु । मेरो मनले धेरै बुद्धि र ज्ञान देखेको छ ।”
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 त्यसैले बुद्धि, पागलपन र मूर्खता जान्न मेरो मन लगाएँ । यो पनि बतासको रेखदेख गर्ने कोसिस रहेछ भनी मैले बुझेँ ।
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 किनकि बुद्धिको प्रशस्ततामा धेरै निराशा हुन्छ, र ज्ञान बढाउनेले पिर बढाउँछ ।
For with great wisdom comes great frustration. The greater the knowledge, the greater the pain.