¹من كالحكيم ومن يفهم تفسير امر. حكمة الانسان تنير وجهه وصلابة وجهه تتغيّر.

¹Who [is] as the wise? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causeth his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

²انا اقول احفظ امر الملك وذلك بسبب يمين الله.

²I pray thee, the commandment of a king keep, even for the sake of the oath of God.

³لا تعجل الى الذهاب من وجهه. لا تقف في أمر شاق لانه يفعل كل ما شاء.

³Be not troubled at his presence, thou mayest go, stand not in an evil thing, for all that he pleaseth he doth.

⁴حيث تكون كلمة الملك فهناك سلطان. ومن يقول له ماذا تفعل.

⁴Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who saith to him, `What dost thou?`

⁵حافظ الوصية لا يشعر بامر شاق وقلب الحكيم يعرف الوقت والحكم.

⁵Whoso is keeping a command knoweth no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knoweth.

⁶لان لكل أمر وقتا وحكما لان شر الانسان عظيم عليه.

⁶For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great upon him.

⁷لانه لا يعلم ما سيكون. لانه من يخبره كيف يكون.

⁷For he knoweth not that which shall be, for when it shall be who declareth to him?

⁸ليس لانسان سلطان على الروح ليمسك الروح ولا سلطان على يوم الموت ولا تخلية في الحرب ولا ينجي الشر اصحابه

⁸There 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 delivereth not its possessors.

⁹كل هذا رأيته اذ وجهت قلبي لكل عمل عمل تحت الشمس وقتما يتسلط انسان على انسان لضرر نفسه.

⁹All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that hath been done under the sun; a time that man hath ruled over man to his own evil.

¹⁰وهكذا رأيت اشرارا يدفنون وضمّوا والذين عملوا بالحق ذهبوا من مكان القدس ونسوا في المدينة. هذا ايضا باطل.

¹⁰And 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 also [is] vanity.

¹¹لان القضاء على العمل الرديء لا يجرى سريعا فلذلك قد امتلأ قلب بني البشر فيهم لفعل الشر.

¹¹Because sentence hath not been done [on] an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.

¹²الخاطئ وان عمل شرا مئة مرة وطالت ايامه الا اني اعلم انه يكون خير للمتقين الله الذين يخافون قدامه.

¹²Though a sinner is doing evil a hundred [times], and prolonging [himself] for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.

¹³ولا يكون خير للشرير وكالظل لا يطيل ايامه لانه لا يخشى قدام الله

¹³And good is not to the wicked, and he doth not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.

¹⁴يوجد باطل يجرى على الارض. ان يوجد صديقون يصيبهم مثل عمل الاشرار ويوجد اشرار يصيبهم مثل عمل الصديقين. فقلت ان هذا ايضا باطل.

¹⁴There is a vanity that hath been done upon the earth, that there are righteous ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this also [is] vanity.

¹⁵فمدحت الفرح لانه ليس للانسان خير تحت الشمس الا ان يأكل ويشرب ويفرح وهذا يبقى له في تعبه مدة ايام حياته التي يعطيه الله اياها تحت الشمس

¹⁵And 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 remaineth with him of his labour the days of his life that God hath given to him under the sun.

¹⁶لما وجهت قلبي لاعرف الحكمة وانظر العمل الذي عمل على الارض وانه نهارا وليلا لا يرى النوم بعينيه

¹⁶When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that hath been done on the earth, (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),

¹⁷رأيت كل عمل الله ان الانسان لا يستطيع ان يجد العمل الذي عمل تحت الشمس. مهما تعب الانسان في الطلب فلا يجده والحكيم ايضا وان قال بمعرفته لا يقدر ان يجده

¹⁷then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that hath been done under the sun, because though man labour to seek, yet he doth not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.