| 1 | To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter
or
purpose under heaven: |
| 2 | A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what 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 get 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 remains for the worker from his toil? |
| 10 | I have seen the painful labor
and
exertion
and
miserable business which God has given to the sons of men with which to exercise
and
busy themselves. |
| 11 | He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts
and
minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. |
| 12 | I know that there is nothing better for them than to be glad and to get
and
do good as long as they live; |
| 13 | And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. |
| 14 | I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. And God does it so that men will [reverently] fear Him [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is]. |
| 15 | That which is now already has been, and that which is to be already has been; and God seeks that which has passed by [so that history repeats itself]. |
| 16 | Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice there was wickedness, and that in the place of righteousness wickedness was there also. |
| 17 | I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time [appointed] for every matter
and
purpose and for every work. |
| 18 | I said in my heart regarding the subject of the sons of men, God is trying (separating and sifting) them, that they may see that by themselves [under the sun, without God] they are but like beasts. |
| 19 | For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even [in the end] one thing befalls them both. As the one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath
and
spirit, so that a
[a]man has no preeminence over a beast; for all is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)! |
| 20 | All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. |
| 21 | Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth? |
| 22 | So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion. For who shall bring him back to see what will happen after he is gone? |
Cross references:
-
Ecclesiastes 3:2 : Heb. 9:27.
-
Ecclesiastes 3:7 : Amos 5:13.
-
Ecclesiastes 3:8 : Luke 14:26.
-
Ecclesiastes 3:14 : Ps. 19:9; James 1:17.
|