Ecclesiastes 1

¹ These na the words of the Preacher, son of David, wey be king of Jerusalem.

² The Preacher talk say, vanity upon vanity. Life na vanity.

³ You spend all your life dey work, dey labor, and wetin you get to show for am?

⁴ Generations dey come and generations dey go, but the earth no dey change.

⁵ Sun still dey rise and still dey go down, and e dey go back to where e go start all over again.

⁶ The wind dey blow go south, the wind dey blow go north - the wind dey blow round and round and e dey blow go back again to where e start.

⁷ Every river dey flow enter sea, but the sea no dey full. Water dey return go where rivers start, and e dey start all over again.

⁸ Words no fit explain things finish, but people continue to dey talk. Word dey come again and again to our ears, but our ears no full. And wetin our eyes dey see no full am.

⁹ Wetin don happen before go happen again. The same thing wey don happen before go happen again. Nothing wey dey new for the whole world.

¹⁰ Dem talk say, "Look, something new dey for here!" But No, all of them don happen before, long before dem born us.

¹¹ Nobody dey remember wetin don happen before, and nobody for days to come go remember wetin dey happen between now and then.

¹² I, the preacher, I don be king over Israel for Jerusalem.

¹³ I don make up my mind say I go study all the things wey dem don do for this world. I learn say na very hard things God don give us say make we do.

¹⁴ I don see everything wey dem do for this world, and I dey tell una, na vanity all of them be. Na like say person dey run after wind.

¹⁵ You no fit straighten out wetin dey bend; you no fit count things wey no dey for there.

¹⁶ I tell myself say, "I don become great man, say I don become wise pass anybody wey don rule Jerusalem before me. I know wetin wisdom and knowledge be."

¹⁷ I don make up my mind to learn the difference wey dey between knowledge and foolishness, between wisdom and madness. But I find out say I fit dey run after wind too.

¹⁸ As you wise reach, naso your worries go plenty; as you know things reach, naso e go hurt you reach.