Ecclesiastes 3

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

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

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

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

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.

6 A time to seek, And a time to destroy. 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.

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

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

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

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

13 indeed, even every man who eats and has drunk and seen good by all his labor, it [is] a 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14 I have known that all that God does is for all time, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God has worked that they fear before Him.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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

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?