Ecclesiastes 3
1 Everything has its own time—a time for all that happens here:
Alle thingis han tyme, and alle thingis vndur sunne passen bi her spaces.
2 A time of birth, and a time of death. A time of planting, and a time of harvest.
Tyme of birthe, and time of diyng; tyme to plaunte, and tyme to drawe vp that that is plauntid.
3 A time of killing, and a time of healing. A time of tearing down, and a time of building up.
Tyme to sle, and tyme to make hool; tyme to distrie, and tyme to bilde.
4 A time of crying, and a time of laughing. A time of mourning, and a time of dancing.
Tyme to wepe, and tyme to leiye; tyme to biweile, and tyme to daunse.
5 A time of throwing away stones, and a time of gathering up stones. A time of embracing, and a time of avoiding embracing.
Tyme to scatere stoonys, and tyme to gadere togidere; tyme to colle, and tyme to be fer fro collyngis.
6 A time of searching, and a time of giving up searching. A time of keeping, and a time of throwing away.
Tyme to wynne, and tyme to leese; tyme to kepe, and tyme to caste awei.
7 A time of tearing, and a time of mending. A time of keeping quiet, a time of speaking up.
Tyme to kitte, and tyme to sewe togidere; tyme to be stille, and tyme to speke.
8 A time of loving, and a time of hating. A time of warfare, and a time of peace.
Tyme of loue, and tyme of hatrede; tyme of batel, and tyme of pees.
9 So what do you get for all your hard work?
What hath a man more of his trauel?
10 I have examined what God gives us to do.
I siy the turment, which God yaf to the sones of men, that thei be occupied therynne.
11 Everything God does is beautifully timed, and even though he has also placed the idea of eternity in our minds, we can't fully understand what God does from beginning to end.
God made alle thingis good in her tyme, and yaf the world to disputyng of hem, that a man fynde not the werk which God hath wrouyt fro the bigynnyng `til in to the ende.
12 I concluded that there's nothing better than being happy and looking for the good in life.
And Y knew that no thing was betere `to a man, `no but to be glad, and to do good werkis in his lijf.
13 In addition everyone should eat and drink and enjoy their work—this is God's gift to us.
For whi ech man that etith and drinkith, and seeth good of his trauel; this is the yifte of God.
14 I also concluded that everything God does lasts forever: nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. God acts in this way so that people may stand in awe of him.
I haue lerned that alle werkis, whiche God made, lasten stidfastli `til in to with outen ende; we moun not adde ony thing to tho, nether take awei fro tho thingis, whiche God made, that he be dred.
15 Whatever was, is; and whatever will be, has been, and God examines the whole of time.
That thing that is maad, dwellith perfitli; tho thingis that schulen come, weren bifore; and God restorith that, that is goon.
16 I also observed that here on earth there was evil even in the place where there was supposed to be justice; even where things were meant to be right, there was evil.
I siy vndur sunne vnfeithfulnesse in the place of doom; and wickidnesse in the place of riytfulnesse.
17 But then I thought to myself, “Ultimately God will judge both those who do right and those who do wrong, and every deed and action, at the appointed time.”
And Y seide in myn herte, The Lord schal deme a iust man, and an vnfeithful man; and the tyme of ech thing schal be thanne.
18 I also thought to myself, “Regarding what happens to human beings—God proves to us that we're no better than animals.”
I seide in myn herte of the sones of men, that God schulde preue hem, and schewe that thei ben lijk vnresonable beestis.
19 For what happens to human beings is the same as what happens to animals—in the same way one dies, the other dies too. They all have the breath of life—so regarding any advantage human beings have over animals, there is none. Definitely this is very hard to understand!
Therfor oon is the perisching of man and of beestis, and euene condicioun is of euer eithir; as a man dieth, `so and tho beestis dien; alle beestis brethen in lijk maner, and a man hath no thing more than a beeste.
20 They all end up in the same place—they all came from dust, and they all return to dust.
Alle thingis ben suget to vanyte, and alle thingis goen to o place; tho ben maad of erthe, and tho turnen ayen togidere in to erthe.
21 Who really knows whether the breath of life of human beings goes up above, and the breath of life of animals goes down below to the earth?
Who knowith, if the spirit of the sones of Adam stieth vpward, and if the spirit of beestis goith dounward?
22 So I concluded that there's nothing better than for people to enjoy their work. This is what we are meant to do. For who can bring anyone back from the dead to show them what will happen after they die?
And Y perseyuede that no thing is betere, than that a man be glad in his werk, and that this be his part; for who schal brynge hym, that he knowe thingis that schulen come after hym?
