¹For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them.

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.

²All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

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.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

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.

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

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

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.

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

⁶Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

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

⁷Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.

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

⁸Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.

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

⁹Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

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.

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol Sheol is the place of the dead. , where you are going.

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

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 men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

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.

¹²For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

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.

¹³I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.

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

¹⁴There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.

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

¹⁵Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

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

¹⁶Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

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

¹⁷The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

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

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

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