Ecclesiastes 3

New King James Version

Everything Has Its Time

3 To everything there is a season,
A ^(A)time for every purpose under heaven:

²A time ^[a]to be born,
And ^(B)a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
³A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
⁴A time to ^(C)weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
⁵A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
^(D)A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
⁷A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
^(E)A time to keep silence,
And a time to ^(F)speak;
⁸A time to love,
And a time to ^(G)hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

The God-Given Task

⁹^(H)What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? ¹⁰^(I)I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that ^(J)no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

¹²I know that nothing is ^(K)better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, ¹³and also that ^(L)every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

¹⁴I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
^(M)Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.
¹⁵^(N)That which is has already been,
And what is to be has already been;
And God ^[b]requires an account of ^[c]what is past.

Injustice Seems to Prevail

¹⁶Moreover ^(O)I saw under the sun:

In the place of ^[d]judgment,
Wickedness was there;
And in the place of righteousness,
^[e]Iniquity was there.

¹⁷I said in my heart,

^(P)“God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
For there is a time there for every ^[f]purpose and for every work.”

¹⁸I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” ¹⁹^(Q)For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. ²⁰All go to one place: ^(R)all are from the dust, and all return to dust. ²¹^(S)Who^[g] knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth? ²²^(T)So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for ^(U)that is his ^[h]heritage. ^(V)For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 3:2 Lit. to bear
Ecclesiastes 3:15 Lit. seeks
Ecclesiastes 3:15 what is pursued
Ecclesiastes 3:16 justice
Ecclesiastes 3:16 Wickedness
Ecclesiastes 3:17 desire
Ecclesiastes 3:21 LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg. Who knows whether the spirit . . . goes upward, and whether . . . goes downward to the earth?
Ecclesiastes 3:22 portion or lot