A time for everything
1For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a time to give birth and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted, 3a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5a time to throw stones away and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to keep from embracing, 6a time to seek and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7a time to tear and a time to sew, a time to keep silent and a time to speak, 8a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9What gain has the worker from the toil he toils at? 10I have seen the business that God has given the sons of man to be busied with. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time; he has also put eternity into their heart, yet without man’s ever finding out the work that God has done from beginning to end. 12I have come to know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their life; 13and also that every man should eat and drink and see good in all his toil — this is God’s gift. 14I have come to know that whatever God does will last forever: nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it; and God has done it so that men should fear before him. 15What is has already been, and what is to be has already been; and God seeks out what has been driven away.
Man and beast go to one place
16And again I saw under the sun: in the place of judgment, wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there. 17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every matter and for every deed.”* 18I said in my heart concerning the sons of man: God is testing them, to let them see that they are beasts, they to themselves. 19For the fate of the sons of man and the fate of the beast is one and the same fate: as the one dies, so dies the other; they all have one spirit, and man has no advantage over the beast, for everything is a breath. 20All go to one place. All came from the dust, and all return to the dust. 21Who knows whether the spirit of the sons of man goes upward, and whether the spirit of the beast goes downward, to the earth? 22So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should take joy in his works, for that is his portion. Who can bring him to see what will come after him?
Notes
- 3:17 — The Hebrew text closes the verse with “there” (sham). Some modern versions change the vowels and read sam, “he has appointed,” translating “for he has appointed a time for every matter.” This translation follows the Hebrew text.
