Mhubiri 8
1 Ni nani aliye kama mtu mwenye hekima? Ni nani ajuaye maelezo ya mambo? Hekima hungʼarisha uso wa mtu na kubadili ugumu wa uso wake.
Who [is] as the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 Nawaambia, Tii amri ya mfalme, kwa sababu uliapa mbele za Mungu.
I [counsel]: keep the command of a king, even for the sake of an oath [to] God.
3 Usiharakishe kuondoka mbele ya mfalme. Usiendelee kutenda lililo baya, kwa maana mfalme atafanya lolote apendalo.
Do not be troubled at his presence, you may go, do not stand in an evil thing, for all that he pleases he does.
4 Kwa kuwa neno la mfalme ndilo lenye mamlaka ya mwisho, nani awezaye kumwambia, “Je, wewe unafanya nini?”
Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who says to him, “What do you do?”
5 Yeyote anayetii agizo lake hatadhurika, moyo wa hekima utajua wakati muafaka na jinsi ya kutenda.
Whoever is keeping a command knows no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knows.
6 Kwa maana kuna wakati muafaka na utaratibu wa kila jambo, ingawa huzuni ya mwanadamu huwa nzito juu yake.
For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great on him.
7 Kwa vile hakuna mtu ajuaye siku zijazo, ni nani awezaye kumwambia linalokuja?
For he does not know that which will be, for when it will be who declares to him?
8 Hakuna mwanadamu awezaye kushikilia roho yake asife, wala hakuna mwenye uwezo juu ya siku ya kufa kwake. Kama vile hakuna yeyote arudishwaye nyuma wakati wa vita, kadhalika uovu hautawaweka huru wale wautendao.
There is no man ruling over the spirit to restrain the spirit, and there is no authority over the day of death, and there is no discharge in battle, and wickedness does not deliver its possessors.
9 Yote haya niliyaona, nilipokuwa natafakari kila kitu kinachotendeka chini ya jua. Kuna wakati ambapo mtu hujifanya bwana juu ya wengine kwa madhara yake mwenyewe.
All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that has been done under the sun; a time that man has ruled over man to his own evil.
10 Ndipo pia, nikaona waovu wakizikwa, wale ambao walizoea kuingia na kutoka mahali patakatifu na kupewa sifa katika mji ambapo walikuwa wamefanya haya. Hili nalo ni ubatili.
And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This [is] also vanity.
11 Wakati hukumu juu ya tendo ovu haitekelezwi upesi, mioyo ya watu hujaa mipango ya kutenda maovu.
Because sentence has not been done [on] an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.
12 Ingawa mtu mwovu hufanya maovu mia moja na akaendelea kuishi maisha marefu, najua kwamba itakuwa bora zaidi kwa watu wanaomwogopa Mungu, wamchao Mungu.
Though a sinner is doing evil one hundred [times], and prolonging [himself] for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.
13 Lakini kwa sababu waovu hawamwogopi Mungu, hawatafanikiwa, maisha yao hayatarefuka kama kivuli.
And good is not to the wicked, and he does not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.
14 Kuna kitu kingine ambacho ni ubatili kinachotokea duniani: Watu waadilifu kupata yale yanayowastahili waovu, nao waovu kupata yale yanayowastahili waadilifu. Hili nalo pia, nasema ni ubatili.
There is a vanity that has been done on the earth, that there are righteous ones to whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones to whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this [is] also vanity.
15 Kwa hiyo mimi ninasifu kufurahia maisha, kwa sababu hakuna kitu bora zaidi kwa mwanadamu chini ya jua kuliko kula, kunywa na kufurahi. Kisha furaha itafuatana naye kazini mwake siku zote za maisha yake ambazo amepewa na Mungu chini ya jua.
And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remains with him of his labor the days of his life that God has given to him under the sun.
16 Nilipotafakari akilini mwangu ili nijue hekima na kuangalia kazi ya mwanadamu duniani, jinsi ambavyo macho yake hayapati usingizi mchana wala usiku,
When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that has been done on the earth (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),
17 ndipo nikaona yale yote ambayo Mungu ameyafanya. Hakuna yeyote awezaye kuelewa yale yanayotendeka chini ya jua. Licha ya juhudi zake zote za kutafuta, mtu hawezi kugundua maana yake. Hata ingawa mtu mwenye hekima anadai kuwa anafahamu, kwa hakika hawezi kutambua.
then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that has been done under the sun, because though man labor to seek, yet he does not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.
