¹Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

¹Kdo je kakor modrijan? in kdo zna razlago stvari? Modrost razsvetljuje človeku obraz, in trma z lica njegovega izgine.

²I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God.

²Jaz ti svetujem: Ukaz kraljev spoštuj, in to z ozirom na prisego Božjo.

³Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him,

³Ne prenagli se, da greš izpred obličja njegovega, in ne vtikaj se v hudo reč! Zakaj on stori vse, kar hoče,

⁴for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁴ker beseda kraljeva ima moč, in kdo mu more reči: Kaj delaš?

⁵Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.

⁵Kdor izpolnjuje zapoved, se ne ozira na nič hudega; in srce modrega razpoznava čas in pravo sodbo.

⁶For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.

⁶Zakaj za vsako početje je čas in sodba; kajti težko obremenja človeka zlo.

⁷For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?

⁷Zakaj on ne ve, kaj se zgodi; ker kdo mu oznani, kako se zgodi?

⁸There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.

⁸Noben človek ni vladar duhu, da bi zadržal duha; in nihče nima vlade nad dnevom smrti; in v vojski ni nobenega oproščenja; in brezbožnost ne reši tistega, ki ji je vdan.

⁹All this have I seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.

⁹Vse to sem videl, in obrnil sem srce svoje k vsemu dejanju, ki se godi pod solncem, ob času, ko človek vlada ljudem v njih nesrečo.

¹⁰So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.

¹⁰In tako sem videl brezbožne, da so jih pokopavali in so prišli v grob; tisti pa, ki so prav ravnali, so morali oditi iz svetega kraja in so jih pozabili v mestu. Tudi to je ničemurnost.

¹¹Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

¹¹Ker se hitro ne izvrši sodni izrek proti hudemu dejanju, zato je srce otrok človeških polno smelosti, da delajo hudo.

¹²Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.

¹²Čeprav grešnik stokrat stori hudo in se mu daljšajo dnevi, vendar vem za gotovo, da se bo njim, ki se Boga boje, dobro godilo, ker se ga boje;

¹³But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn’t fear God.

¹³ali brezbožniku se ne bo dobro godilo, tudi ne podaljša dni svojih, ki so kakor senca, ker se Boga ne boji.

¹⁴There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁴Je ničemurnost, ki se dogaja na zemlji: da so pravični, katerim se godi po delih brezbožnikov, in so brezbožni, katerim se godi po delih pravičnikov. Rekel sem, da tudi to je ničemurnost.

¹⁵Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

¹⁵Tedaj sem hvalil veselje, ker ni nič boljšega človeku pod solncem, nego da jé in pije in se veseli, in to naj pri njem ostane ob trudu njegovem vse njegove žive dni, kar mu jih je dal Bog pod solncem.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes),

¹⁶Ko sem obrnil srce svoje v to, da bi spoznaval modrost in ogledoval počenjanje, ki se godi na zemlji (saj tudi ne okusi človek ne po dne, ne po noči spanja s svojimi očmi):tedaj sem videl glede vsega dela Božjega, da človek ne more doumeti dela, ki se godi pod solncem; kakorkoli se napenja, da ga izsledi, ga z umom ne doseže; in čeprav bi modrijan menil, da ga razume, ga vendar ne bo mogel doseči.

¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.

¹⁷tedaj sem videl glede vsega dela Božjega, da človek ne more doumeti dela, ki se godi pod solncem; kakorkoli se napenja, da ga izsledi, ga z umom ne doseže; in čeprav bi modrijan menil, da ga razume, ga vendar ne bo mogel doseči.