1
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven: |
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot, |
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build, |
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance, |
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain, |
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away, |
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent 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 does the worker gain from his toil? |
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. |
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. |
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. |
13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-this is the gift of God. |
14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. |
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.1 3:15 Or God calls back the past |
16 And I saw something else under the sun: |
17 I thought in my heart, |
18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. |
19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath2 3:19 Or spirit ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. |
20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. |
21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal3 3:21 Or Who knows the spirit of man, which rises upward, or the spirit of the animal, which goes down into the earth?" |
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him? |
