Mhubiri 1
1 Maneno ya Mhubiri, mwana wa Daudi, mfalme huko Yerusalemu:
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 “Ubatili mtupu! Ubatili mtupu!” Mhubiri anasema. “Ubatili mtupu! Kila kitu ni ubatili.”
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 Mwanadamu anafaidi nini kutokana na kazi yake yote anayotaabikia chini ya jua?
(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 Vizazi huja na vizazi hupita, lakini dunia inadumu milele.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 Jua huchomoza na jua huzama, nalo huharakisha kurudi mawioni.
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 Upepo huvuma kuelekea kusini na kugeukia kaskazini, hurudia mzunguko huo huo, daima ukirudia njia yake.
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
7 Mito yote hutiririka baharini, hata hivyo bahari kamwe haijai. Mahali mito inapotoka, huko hurudi tena.
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 Vitu vyote vinachosha, zaidi kuliko mtu anavyoweza kusema. Jicho kamwe halitosheki kutazama, wala sikio halishibi kusikia.
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 Kile kilichokuwepo kitakuwepo tena, kile kilichofanyika kitafanyika tena, hakuna kilicho kipya chini ya jua.
[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 Kuna kitu chochote ambacho mtu anaweza kusema, “Tazama! Kitu hiki ni kipya”? Kilikuwepo tangu zamani za kale, kilikuwepo kabla ya wakati wetu.
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 Hakuna kumbukumbu ya watu wa zamani, hata na wale ambao hawajaja bado hawatakumbukwa na wale watakaofuata baadaye.
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
12 Mimi, Mhubiri, nilikuwa mfalme wa Israeli katika Yerusalemu.
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 Nilitumia muda wangu wote kujifunza na kuvumbua kwa hekima yote yanayofanyika chini ya mbingu. Jinsi gani Mungu ameweka mzigo mzito juu ya wanadamu!
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 Nimeshaona mambo yote yanayotendeka chini ya jua, hayo yote ni ubatili, hii ni kukimbiza upepo.
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
15 Kilichopindika hakiwezi kunyooshwa, kile ambacho hakipo haiwezekani kukihesabu.
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 Niliwaza mwenyewe, “Tazama, nimekua na kuongezeka katika hekima kuliko yeyote aliyewahi kutawala Yerusalemu kabla yangu. Nimekuwa na uzoefu mkubwa wa hekima na maarifa.”
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 Ndipo nilipojitahidi kufahamu kutofautisha hekima, wazimu na upumbavu, lakini nikatambua hata hili nalo ni kukimbiza upepo.
[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 Kwa kuwa hekima nyingi huleta huzuni kubwa; maarifa yanapoongezeka, masikitiko yanaongezeka.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
