Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a right/correct time for everything, a time for everything that we do in this world.
All things have their time, and all things under heaven continue during their interval.
2 There is a time to be born, and there is a time to die. There is a time to plant [seeds], and there is a time to harvest crops.
A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pull up what was planted.
3 There is a time to kill [people], and there is a time to heal [people]. There is a time to tear things down, and there is a time to build things.
A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
4 There is a time to cry, and there is a time to laugh. There is a time to mourn, and there is a time to dance [joyfully].
A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
5 There is a time to throw away stones [from a field], and there is a time to gather stones [to build walls/houses]. There is a time to embrace [people], and there is a time to not embrace [people].
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
6 There is a time to search for things, and there is a time to stop searching for things. There is a time to keep/save things, and there is a time to throw things away.
A time to gain, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.
7 There is a time to tear [our old clothes], and there is a time to mend [clothes]. There is a time to say nothing, and there is a time when we should speak.
A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
8 There is a time when we should love [things that people do], and there is a time when we should hate [things that people do]. There is a time for war, and there is a time for peace.
A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.
9 (What do people gain from all the work that they do?/It seems that people gain very little from all the work that they do [RHQ]).
What more does a man have from his labor?
10 I have seen the work that God has given people to do.
I have seen the affliction that God has given to the sons of men, in order that they may be occupied by it.
11 God has appointed a time that is right/correct for everything to happen. He has [also] caused people to realize that there are things that will endure forever. But in spite of that, no one can completely understand everything that God has done, from the time that he starts doing things until he finishes them.
He has made all things good in their time, and he has handed over the world to their disputes, so that man may not discover the work which God made from the beginning, even until the end.
12 I know that the best [LIT] thing for us people to do is to rejoice and to do good things [all] during the time that we are alive.
And I realize that there is nothing better than to rejoice, and to do well in this life.
13 And I also know that everyone should eat and drink, and enjoy the work that they do. Those are things that God gives to us.
For this is a gift from God: when each man eats and drinks, and sees the good results of his labor.
14 I [also] know that what God does endures forever. No one can add to what God does, and no one can take away from the things that God does. God does those things in order that people would revere him.
I have learned that all the works which God has made continue on, in perpetuity. We are not able to add anything, nor to take anything away, from those things which God has made in order that he may be feared.
15 Things that exist now have already existed previously, and things that will happen in the future have already happened previously; God causes the same things to happen many times.
What has been made, the same continues. What is in the future, has already existed. And God restores what has passed away.
16 Furthermore, I saw that on this earth [MTY], even in the courts where we expect judges to make right decisions about what people had done, they did many wicked [DOU] things.
I saw under the sun: instead of judgment, impiety, and instead of justice, iniquity.
17 [So] I said to myself [SYN], “God will judge [both] righteous [people] and wicked [people]; there is a time [for him to do that], because there is a time for him to do everything.”
And I said in my heart: “God will judge the just and the impious, and then the time for each matter shall be.”
18 And regarding humans, I [also] said to myself, “God is testing us, to show us that [in one way] people are no different than animals,
I said in my heart, about the sons of men, that God would test them, and reveal them to be like wild animals.
19 because what happens to people happens to animals. Animals die, and people die. We all must breathe [to remain alive]. [With regard to that], people have no advantage over animals, so I have a difficult time understanding that.
For this reason, the passing away of man and of beasts is one, and the condition of both is equal. For as a man dies, so also do they die. All things breathe similarly, and man has nothing more than beast; for all these are subject to vanity.
20 [People and animals] all die and are buried. We are all made of soil, and [when we die], our corpses become soil again.
And all things continue on to one place; for from the earth they were made, and unto the earth they shall return together.
21 No one knows [RHQ] for sure that when we die, our souls/spirits go up to heaven and the souls/spirits of animals go down to the place where the dead are.”
Who knows if the spirit of the sons of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?
22 So I concluded that the best thing for [us] people to do is to be happy about the work that we do, because that is what God has given to us. I say that because no one of us [RHQ] knows what happens to us after we die.
And I have discovered nothing to be better than for a man to rejoice in his work: for this is his portion. And who shall add to him, so that he may know the things that will occur after him?
