קֹהֶלֶת 3

1 לכל זמן ועת לכל חפץ תחת השמים

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

2 עת ללדת ועת למות עת לטעת ועת לעקור נטוע

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.

3 עת להרוג ועת לרפוא עת לפרוץ ועת לבנות

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.

4 עת לבכות ועת לשחוק עת ספוד ועת רקוד

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].

5 עת להשליך אבנים ועת כנוס אבנים עת לחבוק ועת לרחק מחבק

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].

6 עת לבקש ועת לאבד עת לשמור ועת להשליך

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.

7 עת לקרוע ועת לתפור עת לחשות ועת לדבר

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.

8 עת לאהב ועת לשנא עת מלחמה ועת שלום

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.

9 מה יתרון העושה באשר הוא עמל

(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]).

10 ראיתי את הענין אשר נתן אלהים לבני האדם--לענות בו

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

11 את הכל עשה יפה בעתו גם את העלם נתן בלבם--מבלי אשר לא ימצא האדם את המעשה אשר עשה האלהים מראש ועד סוף

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.

12 ידעתי כי אין טוב בם--כי אם לשמוח ולעשות טוב בחייו

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.

13 וגם כל האדם שיאכל ושתה וראה טוב בכל עמלו--מתת אלהים היא

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.

14 ידעתי כי כל אשר יעשה האלהים הוא יהיה לעולם--עליו אין להוסיף וממנו אין לגרע והאלהים עשה שיראו מלפניו

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.

15 מה שהיה כבר הוא ואשר להיות כבר היה והאלהים יבקש את נרדף

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.

16 ועוד ראיתי תחת השמש מקום המשפט שמה הרשע ומקום הצדק שמה הרשע

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.

17 אמרתי אני בלבי--את הצדיק ואת הרשע ישפט האלהים כי עת לכל חפץ ועל כל המעשה שם

[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.”

18 אמרתי אני בלבי--על דברת בני האדם לברם האלהים ולראות שהם בהמה המה להם

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,

19 כי מקרה בני האדם ומקרה הבהמה ומקרה אחד להם--כמות זה כן מות זה ורוח אחד לכל ומותר האדם מן הבהמה אין כי הכל הבל

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.

20 הכל הולך אל מקום אחד הכל היה מן העפר והכל שב אל העפר

[People and animals] all die and are buried. We are all made of soil, and [when we die], our corpses become soil again.

21 מי יודע רוח בני האדם--העלה היא למעלה ורוח הבהמה--הירדת היא למטה לארץ

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.”

22 וראיתי כי אין טוב מאשר ישמח האדם במעשיו--כי הוא חלקו כי מי יביאנו לראות במה שיהיה אחריו

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.