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 season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.
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 pluck up that which is 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 destroy, and a time to build.
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 get, 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 keep silence, 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 hath man more of his labour?
10 I have seen the work that God has given people to do.
I have seen the trouble, which God hath given the sons of men to be exercised in 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 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 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 have known that there was no better thing 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 every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his labour, this is the gift of God.
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 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 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.
That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past.
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 in the place of judgment wickedness, and in the place 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 shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.
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 concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.
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.
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 [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 go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they 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 knoweth if the spirit of the children 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 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?
