Ecclesiastes 3

Revised Geneva Translation

3 To all things there is an appointed time, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

² A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break 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 cast away stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to be far from embracing,

⁶ a time to seek and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away,

⁷ a time to tear and a time to sow, a time to keep silent and a time to speak,

⁸ a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace.

⁹ What profit does the worker have from the thing in which he works?

¹⁰ I have seen the work that God has given to the sons of men by which to humble them.

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set the world in their heart, yet man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning to the end.

¹² I know that there is nothing better for him than to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

¹³ And also that every man eats and drinks and sees the good of all his labor. This is the gift of God.

¹⁴ I know that whatever God shall do, it shall be forever. No man can add to it, and from it no one can subtract. For God has done it so that they would fear before Him.

¹⁵ Whatever has already been, is now. And whatever shall be, has already been. For God requires that which is past.

¹⁶ And moreover, I have seen the place of judgment under the Sun, where wickedness was, and the place of justice, where iniquity was.

¹⁷ I thought in my heart, “God will judge the just and the wicked. For there is a time for every purpose and for every work.”

¹⁸ I considered the state of the children of men in my heart, that God had examined them, so that they too see themselves as beasts.

¹⁹ For the condition of the children of men and the condition of beasts is the same, as the one dies so dies the other. For they all have one breath. And there is no excellency of man above beast. For all is vanity.

²⁰ All go to one place. And all were of the dust. And all shall return to the dust.

²¹ Who knows whether the spirit of man ascends upward, and the spirit of the beast descends downward to the earth?

²² Therefore, I see that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his affairs, because that is his portion. For who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?