Ecclesiastes 3

1 To everything—a season, and a time to every delight under the heavens:

All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.

2 A time to bring forth, And a time to die. A time to plant, And a time to eradicate the planted.

A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

3 A time to slay, And a time to heal, A time to break down, And a time to build up.

A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build.

4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh. A time to mourn, And a time to skip.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to heap up stones. A time to embrace, And a time to be far from embracing.

A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

6 A time to seek, And a time to destroy. A time to keep, And a time to cast away.

A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.

7 A time to tear, And a time to sew. A time to be silent, And a time to speak.

A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

8 A time to love, And a time to hate. A time of war, And a time of peace.

A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What advantage does the doer have in that which he is laboring at?

What hath man more of his labour?

10 I have seen the travail that God has given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

I have seen the trouble, which God hath given the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11 The whole He has made beautiful in its season; also, that knowledge He has put in their heart without which man does not find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end.

12 I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life,

And I have known that there was no better thing than to rejoice, and to do well in this life.

13 indeed, even every man who eats and has drunk and seen good by all his labor, it [is] a gift of God.

For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his labour, this is the gift of God.

14 I have known that all that God does is for all time, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God has worked that they fear before Him.

I have learned that all the works which God hath made, continue for ever: we cannot add any thing, nor take away from those things which God hath made that he may be feared.

15 What is that which has been? Already it is, and that which [is] to be has already been, and God requires that which is pursued.

That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past.

16 And again, I have seen under the sun the place of judgment—there [is] the wicked; and the place of righteousness—there [is] the wicked.

I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity.

17 I said in my heart, “The righteous and the wicked God judges, for a time [is] to every matter and for every work there.”

And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.

18 I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves [are] beasts.

I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.

19 For an event [is to] the sons of man, and an event [is to] the beasts, even one event [is] to them; as the death of this, so [is] the death of that; and one spirit [is] to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole [is] vanity.

Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things are subject to vanity.

20 The whole are going to one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back to the dust.

And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they return together.

21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth?

Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?

22 And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it [is] his portion; for who brings him to look on that which is after him?

And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice in his work, and that this is his portion. For who shall bring him to know the things that shall be after him?