Chapter 3

  To everything -- a season, and a time to every delight under the heavens:  

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  A time to bring forth, And a time to die. A time to plant, And a time to eradicate the planted.  

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  A time to slay, 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 skip.  

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  A time to cast away stones, And a time to heap up stones. A time to embrace, And a time to be far from embracing.  

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  A time to seek, And a time to destroy. 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 be silent, And a time to speak.  

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  A time to love, And a time to hate. A time of war, And a time of peace.  

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  What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?  

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  I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.  

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  The whole He hath made beautiful in its season; also, that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end.  

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  I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life,  

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  yea, even every man who eateth and hath drunk and seen good by all his labour, it [is] a gift of God.  

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  I have known that all that God doth is to the age, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God hath wrought that they do fear before Him.  

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  What is that which hath been? already it is, and that which [is] to be hath already been, and God requireth that which is pursued.  

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  And again, I have seen under the sun the place of judgment -- there [is] the wicked; and the place of righteousness -- there [is] the wicked.  

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  I said in my heart, 'The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time [is] to every matter and for every work there.'  

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  I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves [are] beasts.  

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  For an event [is to] the sons of man, and an event [is to] the beasts, even one event [is] to them; as the death of this, so [is] the death of that; and one spirit [is] to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole [is] vanity.  

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  The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust.  

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  Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth?  

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  And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it [is] his portion; for who doth bring him in to look on that which is after him?  

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