Ecclesiastes 3

Everything in God’s Own Time

1 Everything has its own time, and there is a specific time for every activity under heaven:2 a time to be born anda time to die,a time to plant anda time to pull out what was planted,3 a time to kill anda time to heal,a time to tear down anda time to build up,4 a time to cry anda time to laugh,a time to mourn anda time to dance,5 a time to scatter stones anda time to gather them,ta time to hug anda time to stop hugging,6 a time to start looking anda time to stop looking,a time to keep anda time to throw away,7 a time to tear apart anda time to sew together,a time to keep quiet anda time to speak out,8 a time to love anda time to hate,a time for war anda time for peace.

God Gives Mortals a Sense of Eternity

9 What do working people gain from their hard labor?10 I have seen mortals weighed down with a burden that God has placed on them.

11 It is beautiful how God has done everything at the right time. He has put a sense of eternity in people’s minds. Yet, mortals still can’t grasp what God is doing from the beginning to the end of time.
12 I realize that there’s nothing better for them to do than to be cheerful and enjoy what is good in their lives.

13 It is a gift from God to be able to eat and drink and experience the good that comes from every kind of hard work.
14 I realize that whatever God does will last forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken away from it. God does this so that people will fear him.15 Whatever has happened in the past is present now. Whatever is going to happen in the future has already happened in the past. God will call the past to account.t

Humans and Animals Meet the Same End

16 I saw something else under the sun:There is wickedness where justice should be found.There is wickedness where righteousness should be found.17 I thought to myself, “God will judge righteous people as well as wicked people, because there is a specific time for every activity and every work that is done.”18 I thought to myself, “God is going to test humans in order to show them that they are like animals.”19 Humans and animals have the same destiny. One dies just like the other. All of them have the same breath of life. Humans have no advantage over animals. All of life is pointless.20 All life goes to the same place. All life comes from the ground, and all of it goes back to the ground.

21 Who knows whether a human spirit goes upward or whether an animal spirit goes downward to the earth?
22 I saw that there’s nothing better for people to do than to enjoy their work because that is their lot in life. Who will allow them to see what will happen after them?

Ecclesiastes 3

1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:2 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 a time to kill, 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 dance;5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?10 I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.11 He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.12 I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God hath done it, that men should fear before him.15 That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.16 And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.18 I said in my heart, It is because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as beasts.19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity.20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.21 Who knoweth the spirit of man, whether it goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goeth downward to the earth?22 Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him back to see what shall be after him?