¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:

¹Je zlo, ki sem ga videl pod solncem, in težko tlači ljudi:

²A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

²Bog podeli komu bogastva in zakladov in časti, da ne manjka duši njegovi ničesar, karkoli bi si želel: a Bog mu ne da oblasti, da bi to užival, ampak tujec bo užil! To je ničemurnost in huda bolečina.

³If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

³Ako bi kdo rodil sto otrok in živel mnogo let, kakorkoli veliko bi bilo let njegovih število, a duša njegova bi se ne nasitila dobrega in nazadnje bi mu ne napravili pogreba, tedaj rečem: Izpovitek je srečnejši od njega!

⁴For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

⁴Ker ta pride v ničevosti in se odpravi v temi in njegovo ime ostane skrito v temi;

⁵Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other.

⁵solnca tudi ni videl, ne česa spoznal. Ta počiva bolje nego on.

⁶Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

⁶In ako bi bil tudi dvakrat tisoč let živel, pa ne videl nič dobrega: ne gre li vse v en kraj?

⁷All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

⁷Ves trud človekov je za usta njegova, a duša se mu vendar ne nasiti!

⁸For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?

⁸Ker kaj ima modri več nego bedak? kaj ubožec, ki se ume vesti pred živečimi?

⁹Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

⁹Bolje, da oči kaj vidijo, nego da želje okoli tavajo. Tudi to je ničemurnost in lovljenje vetra.

¹⁰That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

¹⁰Kar je postalo, je bilo že zdavnaj imenovano. In Bogu je znano, kaj bode človek, in ta se ne more pravdati z Onim, ki je močnejši od njega.

¹¹Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?

¹¹In ker je mnogo besed, ki pomnožujejo ničemurnost, kaj ima dobička človek od tega?Kajti kdo ve, kaj je dobro človeku v življenju, vse dni ničemurnega življenja njegovega, ki jih preživi kakor senca? Kajti kdo more povedati človeku, kaj bode za njim pod solncem?

¹²For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

¹²Kajti kdo ve, kaj je dobro človeku v življenju, vse dni ničemurnega življenja njegovega, ki jih preživi kakor senca? Kajti kdo more povedati človeku, kaj bode za njim pod solncem?