¹Kune chinhu chakaipa chandakaona pasi pezuva, chinoremedza vanhu.

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

²Munhu anopiwa naMwari fuma nezvakawanda nokukudzwa, saizvozvo kuti mweya wake hautongoshaiwi chinhu chaanoda; asi Mwari haamupi simba rokudya izvozvo; asi mutorwa anozvidya, ichi hachina maturo, ihosha yakaipa.

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.

³Kana munhu akabereka vana vane zana, akararama makore mazhinji, mazuva amakore ake akava mazhinji, asi mweya wake asingagutswi nezvakanaka, uyezve akasavigwa zvakanaka, ndinoti mwana wakaberekwa nguva isati yasvika anopfuura iye;

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.

⁴nekuti anouya asina maturo, anoendazve murima, zita rake rinofukidzwa nerima;

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

⁵uyezve, haana kuona zuva kana kuriziva; mwana akadai ane zororo kupfuura iye.

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

⁶Zvirokwazvo, kunyange akararama makore ane zviuru zviviri zvamazana, asingafariri zvinhu zvakanaka, ko vose havaendi kunzvimbo imwe here?

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

⁷Kubata kose komunhu kunoitirwa muromo wake; kunyange zvakadaro kuda kwake zvokudya hakugutswi.

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

⁸nekuti akachenjera anokurira benzi nei? Kana murombo anei, iye anoziva kufamba zvakanaka pamberi pavapenyu.

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

⁹Kuona kwameso kunopfuura kutsvakatsvaka komweya. Naizvozvowo hazvina maturo, ndiko kudzingana nemhepo chete.

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

¹⁰Chinhu chipi nechipi, chakavapo, chakanguva chapiwa zita racho, zvakatarwa kuti munhu achava akadini, haangarwi nowanomupfuura nesimba.

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.

¹¹nekuti mashoko mazhinji ariko, anowedzera zvisina maturo; munhu anobatsirwei nazvo?

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

¹²nekuti ndiani anoziva zvakafanira munhu paupenyu hwake, iwo mazuva ose oupenyu hwake husina maturo, anorarama somumvuri? nekuti ndiani angaudza munhu zvichazomutevera pasi pezuva?

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?