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There’s a proper time and way for people to do everything.
    That’s true even though a person might be suffering greatly.

No one knows what lies ahead.
    So who can tell someone else what’s going to happen?
No one can stop the wind from blowing.
    And no one has the power to decide when they will die.
No one is let out of the army in times of war.
    And evil won’t let go of those who practice it.

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For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,(A)
    though a person may be weighed down by misery.

Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come?
As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
    so[a] no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
    so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so