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.

¹For all this I laid to my heart and [indeed] to investigate all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; man knoweth neither love nor hatred: all is before them.

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.

²All things [come] alike to all: 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; he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

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.

³This is an evil among all that is done under the sun, that one thing befalleth all: yea, also the heart of the children of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live; and after that, [they have to go] to the dead.

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

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

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

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

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

⁶Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy is already perished; neither have they any more for ever a portion in all that is done under the sun.

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

⁷Go, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works.

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

⁸Let thy garments be always white, and let not thy head lack oil.

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.

⁹Enjoy life 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 life, and in thy labour wherein thou art labouring under the sun.

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

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

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.

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 the intelligent, nor yet favour to men of knowledge; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

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.

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

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

¹³This also have I seen as wisdom under the sun, and it was great unto me.

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

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

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

¹⁵and there was found in it a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city; but no man remembered that poor man.

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

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

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

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

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

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