Ecclesiastes 3

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

Everything has its own time—a time for all that happens here:

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

A time of birth, and a time of death. A time of planting, and a time of harvest.

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

A time of killing, and a time of healing. A time of tearing down, and a time of building up.

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

A time of crying, and a time of laughing. A time of mourning, and a time of dancing.

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 of throwing away stones, and a time of gathering up stones. A time of embracing, and a time of avoiding embracing.

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

A time of searching, and a time of giving up searching. A time of keeping, and a time of throwing away.

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

A time of tearing, and a time of mending. A time of keeping quiet, a time of speaking up.

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

A time of loving, and a time of hating. A time of warfare, and a time of peace.

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

So what do you get for all your hard work?

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

I have examined what God gives us to do.

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.

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.

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

I concluded that there's nothing better than being happy and looking for the good in life.

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

In addition everyone should eat and drink and enjoy their work—this is God's gift to us.

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 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.

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.

Whatever was, is; and whatever will be, has been, and God examines the whole of time.

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 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.

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.”

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.”

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 also thought to myself, “Regarding what happens to human beings—God proves to us that we're no better than animals.”

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.

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!

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

They all end up in the same place—they all came from dust, and they all return to dust.

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 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?

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?

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?