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Obuwulize eri Abakulembeze

Ani afaanana omuntu omugezi
    amanyi okunnyonnyola buli kintu?
Amagezi gaakaayakanyisa obwenyi bw’omuntu,
    ne gakyusa emitaafu gyamu.

Nkugamba nti gondera ekiragiro kya kabaka, kubanga walayira[a] mu maaso ga Katonda. (A)Toyanguyiriza kuva mu maaso ga kabaka. Kyokka ensonga bw’ebanga etali ntuufu, tobanga ku ludda lumuwakanya, kubanga ye akola buli ky’ayagala. (B)Kubanga ekigambo kya kabaka kisukkuluma byonna; kale ani ayinza okumubuuza nti, “Okola ki ekyo?”

Oyo agondera ekiragiro kye talituukibwako kabi,
    omutima ogw’amagezi gulimanya ekiseera ekisaana okukoleramu ekintu gundi, n’engeri ey’okukolamu ekintu ekyo.
(C)Kubanga waliwo ekiseera ekituufu n’enkola esaana ku buli kintu,
    newaakubadde ng’obuyinike bw’omuntu bumuzitoowerera okukamala.

Nga bwe watali muntu amanyi binaabaawo,
    kale ani ayinza okumutegeeza ebinajja?
Tewali muntu alina buyinza kufuga mpewo;
    bwe kityo tewali n’omu alina buyinza ku lunaku lwa kufa kwe.
Ng’omuntu bw’aweebwa ebiragiro mu biseera eby’olutalo,
    bwe kityo n’obutali butuukirivu bwe buduumira abo ababutambuliramu.

Ebyo byonna bye nalaba bwe nagezaako okwekenneenya buli kintu ekikolebwa wansi w’enjuba. Waliwo ekiseera omufuzi buli lw’abinika baafuga, kyokka nga yeerumya yekka. 10 (D)Ndabye abantu abakozi b’ebibi nga baziikibwa, abo abaawaanibwanga mu kibuga nga bazze mu kifo ekitukuvu. Na kino nakyo butaliimu.

11 Omuntu bw’asalirwa omusango n’atabonererezebwawo, emitima gy’ababi gijjula kuteekateeka kukola bubi. 12 (E)Newaakubadde ng’omuntu omubi azza emisango kikumi, ate n’awangaala, nkimanyi ng’abatuukirivu, abo abatya Katonda bijja kubagendera bulungi. 13 (F)Naye olwokubanga abakozi b’ebibi tebatya Katonda, tebiyinza kubagendera bulungi, era n’ennaku zaabwe zinaayitanga mangu ng’ekisiikirize.

14 (G)Waliwo ekintu ekirala ekiraga obutaliimu ekiri ku nsi: abantu abatuukirivu batukibwako ebyo ebisaanira ababi, ate abatali batuukirivu ne batuukibwako ebyo ebigwanira abatuukirivu. Kino nakyo nkiyita butaliimu. 15 (H)Bwe ntyo nteesa nti omuntu yeyagalire mu bulamu: kubanga wansi w’enjuba tewali kisinga, wabula omuntu okulya n’okunywa n’okweyagala. Kale essanyu linaamuwerekeranga mu mirimu gye, ennaku zonna ez’obulamu bwe Katonda bw’amuwadde wansi w’enjuba.

16 (I)Bwe nanoonyereza amagezi ne neetegereza okutegana kw’omuntu ku nsi kuno, nga teyeebaka emisana n’ekiro. 17 (J)Ne ndaba ebyo byonna Katonda by’akoze, nga tewali n’omu ayinza kutegeera Katonda by’akola wansi w’enjuba, omuntu ne bw’agezaako ennyo okukinoonyereza tayinza kukivumbula. Newaakubadde omuntu omugezi yeefuula nti akimanyi, tayinza kukitegeera.

Footnotes

  1. 8:2 Ekirayiro ekyo bwe bweyamo obw’obwesigwa, abaweereza ba kabaka bwe baakolanga eri Katonda.

Who is like the wise?
    Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
    and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the King

Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.(A) Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?(B)

Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
    and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,(C)
    though a person may be weighed down by misery.

Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come?
As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
    so[a] no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
    so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own[b] hurt. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried(D)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise[c] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better(E) with those who fear God,(F) who are reverent before him.(G) 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God,(H) it will not go well with them, and their days(I) will not lengthen like a shadow.

14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.(J) This too, I say, is meaningless.(K) 15 So I commend the enjoyment of life(L), because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink(M) and be glad.(N) Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom(O) and to observe the labor that is done on earth(P)—people getting no sleep day or night— 17 then I saw all that God has done.(Q) No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.(R)

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
  2. Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
  3. Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten

Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.

I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.

Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.

Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.

For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

11 Because 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.

12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

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

17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.