¹¶ Tera tetahi he i kitea e ahau i raro i te ra, he mea taimaha ano ki runga ki nga tangata:

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

²He tangata i homai nei e te Atua ki a ia he taonga, he rawa, he kororia, a kihai tona wairua i hapa ki tetahi mea i hiahia ai ia, otiia kihai i tukua e te Atua ki a ia te tikanga mo te kai i tetahi wahi o aua mea, engari kainga ana e te tangata k e. He horihori tenei, he mate kino.

²one to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, and 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 a sore evil.

³Ki te kotahi rau nga tamariki a tetahi tangata, a he maha nga tau e ora ai ia, maha atu nga ra o ona tau, a kahore tona wairua i ngata i te pai, kahore hoki ia e whai tanumanga; e mea ana ahau tera noa atu te pai o te materoto i a ia.

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

⁴I haere mai hoki tera i runga i te horihori, a haere atu ana i runga i te pouri, a ka taupokina tona ingoa e te pouri.

⁴For it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness;

⁵Kihai hoki ia i kite i te ra, kihai ano i mohio ki a ia; nui atu to tenei okioki i to tera;

⁵moreover it hath not seen nor known the sun: this hath rest rather than the other.

⁶Ae, ahakoa kotahi mano topu nga tau i ora ai ia, heoi kahore he pai i kitea e ia. He teka ianei e haere ana te katoa ki te wahi kotahi?

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

⁷¶ Ko nga mea katoa i mauiui ai te tangata hei mea ano mo tona mangai, otiia e kore tona wairua e makona.

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

⁸He aha oti ta te tangata whakaaro nui e hira ake ana i ta te wairangi? He aha hoki ta te ware, e mohio nei ki te haere i te aroaro o te hunga ora?

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

⁹He pai ke te kite o nga kanohi i te kaipaowe o te hiahia: he horihori ano tenei, a he whai i te hau.

⁹Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

¹⁰Ko nga mea katoa o mua kua oti noa ake te hua ki te ingoa, a e mohiotia ana ko te tangata: e kore hoki ia e tau hei totohe ki te mea e kaha atu ana i a ia.

¹⁰That which is hath already been named; and what man is, is known, and that he cannot contend with him that is mightier than he.

¹¹¶ Ka maha nei nga mea hei whakanui i te horihori, he aha te painga ki te tangata?

¹¹For there are many things that increase vanity: what is man advantaged?

¹²Ko wai hoki e mohio ana he aha te mea pai ki te tangata i a ia nei i te ora, i nga ra katoa o tona oranga horihori, e rite nei ki te atarangi i a ia e mahi nei? Ko wai hoki hei whakaatu ki te tangata ko te aha e puta mai i muri i a ia i raro i t e ra?

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