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Ecclesiastes 3
Lexham English Bible

God Has Ordained the Ebb and Flow of Human Activities

3 For everything there is an appointed time, a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to bear[a] and a time to die;
    a time to plant and a time to root up what is planted;
3 a time to kill and a time to heal;
    a time to break down and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh;
    a time to mourn and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones;
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek and a time to lose;
    a time to keep and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear and a time to sew;
    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 in his toil?

No One Understands God’s Mysterious Plan

10 I have seen the busyness God gives to humans[b] to preoccupy[c] them. 11 He has made everything suitable in its time. He also has put the past[d] in their hearts, yet no one can grasp what God does from the beginning to the end. 12 So I realized that there is nothing better[e] for them than to rejoice and enjoy themselves[f] during their lives. 13 And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, to enjoy the fruit of all his toil,[g] this also is a gift of God.

14 I know everything God does endures forever;
    nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it,
        for God so acts that humans[h] might stand in awe before him.
15 What is—it already was,
    and what will be—it already is,
        for God will do what he has done.[i]

God’s Mysterious Plan Allows Injustice to Exist in the World

16 I saw something else under the sun: instead of justice there was evil; instead of righteousness there was wickedness. 17 So I said to myself,[j] “God will surely judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed[k] a time of judgment for every deed and every work.”

18 I said to myself concerning humans,[l] “God sifts[m] them in order to show[n] them that they are like beasts.” 19 For the fate of humans[o] and the fate of the beast is the same.[p] The death of the one is like the death of the other, for both are mortal.[q] Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting. 20 Both go to one place—both came from dust and both return to dust. 21 For no one knows whether the spirit of a human ascends to heaven and whether the spirit of the beast descends to the ground!

22 So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy the fruit of his labor, for this is his lot in life. For no one knows what will happen in the future.[r]

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:2 Or “a time to be born”; MT reads the active form “to bear children”
  2. Ecclesiastes 3:10 Literally “the sons of the man”
  3. Ecclesiastes 3:10 Or “to be busy”
  4. Ecclesiastes 3:11 Literally “eternity”
  5. Ecclesiastes 3:12 Literally “no good”
  6. Ecclesiastes 3:12 Literally “to rejoice and to do good”
  7. Ecclesiastes 3:13 Literally “to see good in all his toil”
  8. Ecclesiastes 3:14 Or “they”
  9. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Literally “God seeks what is pursued”
  10. Ecclesiastes 3:17 Literally “in my heart”
  11. Ecclesiastes 3:17 The MT reads שָׁם “there,” but repointing to שָׂם, “he has appointed,” makes better sense
  12. Ecclesiastes 3:18 Literally “the sons of the man”
  13. Ecclesiastes 3:18 Or “tests”
  14. Ecclesiastes 3:18 The MT reads active “to see,” but causative “to show” is reflected by LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate
  15. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Literally “the sons of the man”
  16. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Literally “is one”
  17. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Literally “and one breath is for all”
  18. Ecclesiastes 3:22 Literally “For who can bring him to see in what will be after him?”
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Ecclesiastes 3
New International Version

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time(A) for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,(B)
3     a time to kill(C) 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 from embracing,
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(D) 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 do workers gain from their toil?(E) 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.(F) 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.(G) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom(H) what God has done from beginning to end.(I) 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink,(J) and find satisfaction(K) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.(L) 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 people will fear him.(M)

15 Whatever is has already been,(N)
    and what will be has been before;(O)
    and God will call the past to account.[b]

16 And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

17 I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment(P)
    both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed.”(Q)

18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.(R) 19 Surely the fate of human beings(S) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath[c]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.(T) 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward(U) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,(V) because that is their lot.(W) For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
  2. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God calls back the past
  3. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Or spirit
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Ecclesiastes 2
Ecclesiastes 4
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