Mhubiri 1
1 Haya ni maneno ya Mwalimu, mwana wa Daudi na mfalme katika Yerusalemu.
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 Mwalimu asema hivi, “Kama mvuke wa ukungu, kama upepo mwanana katika upepo, kila kitu hutoweka na kuacha maswali mengi.
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 Ni faida gani wanadamu huipata kutoka katika kazi zote wazifanyazo 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 Kizazi kimoja huenda, na kizazi kingine huja, lakini nchi yabaki milele.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 Jua huchomoza na jua huzama na kwenda kwa kasi, na kurudi mahali linapochomozea tena.
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 Upepo huvuma kusini na huzunguka kasikazi, na mara zote ukizunguka katika njia yake na kurudi tena.
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 katika bahari, lakini bahari haijai. Mahali mito inakoenda, ndiko inakoenda 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 Kila kitu huwa uchovu, na hakuna yeyote awezae kukielezea. Jicho halishibina kile linachokiona, wala sikio halishibi na kile linachosikia.
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 Chochote kilichopo ndicho kitakachokuwepo, kila kilichofanyika ndicho kitakachofanyika. Hakuna jipya 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 Je kuna jambo lolote ambalo watu wanaweza kusema, 'Tazama, hili ni jipya'? Chochote kilichopo kimekwisha kuwepo muda mwingi, wakati uliokuwepo kabla yetu.
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 Hakuna anayeonekana kukumbuka kilichotokea nyakati za zamani. Na mambo yaliyo tokea siku zilizo pita na yale yatakayo tokea siku za mbele nayo hayatakumbukwa.”
[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 ni mwalimu, na nimekuwa mfalme juu ya Isareli katika Yerusalemu.
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 Nilitia akili yangu katika kusoma na kutafuta kwa hekima kila kitu kinachofanywa chini ya mbingu. Hili nalo ni jukumu zito ambalo Mungu amewapa wana wa watu kujishughulisha nalo.
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 Nimeona matendo yote ambayo yanafanyika chini ya jua, na tazama yote ni mvuke ni kujaribu kuuchunga 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 Palipopinda hapawezi kunyoshwa! Kisicho kuwepo hakiwezi kuhesabiwa!
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 Nimeuambia moyo wangu nikisema, “Tazama, nimepata hekima kubwa kuliko walioishi Yerusalemu kabla yangu. Akili yangu imeona hekima kubwa na ufahamu.”
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 nimetia moyo wangu kujua hekima na upumbuvu na ujinga. Nikagundua kuwa hili nalo pia lilikuwa ni kujaribu kuuchunga 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 katika wingi wa hekima kuna masumbufu mengi, naye aongezae ujuzi, aongeza masikitiko.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
