Ecclesiastes 3

1 There is a right/correct time for everything, a time for everything that we do in this world.

To all things there is a time, and a season for every matter 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 of birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been 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 pull 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 lament, 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 throw stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to abstain from embracing;

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 seek, 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 to love, and a time to hate; 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 advantage [has] he that works in those things wherein he labors?

10 I have seen the work that God has given people to do.

I have seen all the trouble, which God has given to the sons of men to be troubled with.

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.

All the things which he has made are beautiful in his time: he has also set the whole world in their heart, that man might not find out the work which God has wrought from the beginning even 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.

I know that there is no good in them, except [for a man] to rejoice, and to do good in his 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.

Also [in the case of] every man who shall eat and drink, and see good in all his labor, [this] is a 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 know that whatever things God has done, they shall be for ever: it is impossible to add to it, and it is impossible to take away from it: and God has done [it], that [men] may fear before him.

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 has been is now; and whatever things [are appointed] to be have already been; and God will seek out 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.

And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, there was the ungodly one; and the place of righteousness, there was the godly one.

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 righteous and the ungodly: for there is a time there for every action and for every work.

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 speech of the sons of man, God will judge them, and that to show that they are breasts.

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.

Also to them is the event of the sons of man, and the event of the brute; one event befalls them: as is the death of the one, so also the death of the other; and there is one breath to all: and what has the man more than the brute? nothing; for all is 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.

All [go] to one place; all were formed of the dust, and all will return to dust.

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.”

And who has seen the spirit of the sons of man, whether it goes upward? and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?

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 saw that there was no good, but that wherein a man shall rejoice in his works, for it is his portion, for who shall bring him to see any thing of that which shall be after him?