A Time for Everything

For everything there is a season, and (A)a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to (B)die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to (C)weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to (D)dance;
a time to (E)cast away stones, and a time to (F)gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to (G)refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to (H)lose;
a time to keep, and a time to (I)cast away;
a time to (J)tear, and a time to sew;
a time to (K)keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to (L)hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

What (M)gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen (N)the business that (O)God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has (P)made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot (Q)find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is (R)nothing better for them than to be joyful and to (S)do good as long as they live; 13 also (T)that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is (U)God's gift to man.

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; (V)nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, (W)already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God (X)seeks what has been driven away.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Hebrew what has been pursued

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