Ecclesiastes 3
1 To all things there is a time, and a
season for every matter under heaven.
2 A time of birth, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to pull down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to lament, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw stones, and a time
to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to abstain 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 be silent, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What advantage
has he that works in those things wherein he labours?
10 I have seen all the trouble, which
God has given to the sons of men to be troubled with.
11 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 there
is no good in them, except for a man to rejoice, and
to do good in his life.
13 Also
in the case of every man who shall eat and drink, and
see good in all his labour, this is a gift of God.
14 I know that whatsoever 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 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 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 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 I said in my heart, concerning the
speech of the sons of man, God will judge them, and that to shew that they are
beasts. 19 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 All go to
one place; all were formed of the dust, and all will return to dust.
21 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 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?