¹For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.

¹Razmišljah o svemu tome i shvatih kako su i pravednici i mudraci, sa djelima svojim, u Božjoj ruci; i čovjek ne razumije ni ljubavi ni mržnje, i njemu su obje ispraznost.

²All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

²Svima je ista kob, pravednomu kao i opakom, čistomu i nečistomu, onomu koji žrtvuje kao i onomu koji ne žrtvuje; jednako dobru kao i grešniku, onomu koji se zaklinje kao i onomu koji se boji zakletve.

³This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

³Najgore je od svega što biva pod suncem ovo: ista je kob svima, ljudsko je srce puno zla, ludost je u srcima ljudi dok žive, a potom se pridružuju mrtvima.

⁴For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁴Jer onaj tko je među živima, ima nade: i živ pas više vrijedi nego mrtav lav.

⁵For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

⁵Živi barem znaju da će umrijeti, a mrtvi ne znaju ništa niti imaju više nagrade, jer se zaboravlja i spomen na njih.

⁶Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

⁶Davno je nestalo i njihove ljubavi, i mržnje, i zavisti, i više nemaju udjela ni u čem što biva pod suncem.

⁷Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

⁷Zato s radošću jedi svoj kruh i vesela srca pij svoje vino, jer se Bogu već prije svidjelo tvoje djelo.

⁸Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

⁸U svako doba nosi haljine bijele i ulja nek' ne ponestane na tvojoj glavi.

⁹Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

⁹Uživaj život sa ženom koju ljubiš u sve dane svojega ispraznog vijeka koji ti Bog daje pod suncem, jer to je tvoj udio u životu i u trudu kojim se trudiš pod suncem.

¹⁰Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

¹⁰I što god nakaniš učiniti, učini dok možeš, jer nema ni djela, ni umovanja, ni spoznaje, ni mudrosti u Podzemlju u koje ideš.

¹¹I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

¹¹Osim toga, vidjeh pod suncem: ne dobivaju trku hitri, ni boj hrabri; nema kruha za mudraca, ni bogatstva za razumne, ni milosti za učene, jer vrijeme i kob sve ih dostiže.

¹²For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

¹²Čovjek ne zna svoga časa: kao ribe ulovljene u podmukloj mreži, i kao ptice u zamku uhvaćene, tako se hvataju sinovi ljudski u vrijeme nevolje koja ih iznenada spopada.

¹³This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:

¹³Još vidjeh pod suncem i ovu "mudrost" koja mi se učini velikom:

¹⁴There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:

¹⁴Bi jedan malen grad i u njem malo ljudi, a na nj udari velik kralj, opkoli ga i podiže oko njega velike opsadne tornjeve.

¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

¹⁵Ali se u njemu nađe čovjek siromah mudar koji spasi grad svojom mudrošću, a poslije se nitko nije sjećao toga čovjeka.

¹⁶Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

¹⁶Ipak ja velim: bolja je mudrost nego jakost, ali se ne cijeni mudrost siromaha i ne slušaju njegove riječi.

¹⁷The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

¹⁷Blage se riječi mudraca bolje čuju nego vika zapovjednika nad luđacima.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.

¹⁸Mudrost više vrijedi nego bojno oružje, ali jedan jedini grešnik pokvari mnogo dobra.