Chapter 3

  For everything there is a season, and a time for very purpose under heaven:  

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  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;  

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  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  

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  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  

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  a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;  

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

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  a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  

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  a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.  

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  What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?  

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  I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.  

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  He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.  

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  I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.  

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  And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.  

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  I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God hath done it, that men should fear before him.  

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  That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.  

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  And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.  

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  I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.  

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  I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts.  

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  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity.  

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  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.  

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  Who knoweth the spirit of man, whether it goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goeth downward to the earth?  

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  Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him [back] to see what shall be after him?  

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