Ecclesiastes 3:9-15

English Standard Version

The God-Given Task

⁹ What ^(A)gain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰ I have seen ^(B)the business that ^(C)God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹ He has ^(D)made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot ^(E)find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹² I perceived that there is ^(F)nothing better for them than to be joyful and to ^(G)do good as long as they live; ¹³ also ^(H)that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is ^(I)God's gift to man.

¹⁴ I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; ^(J)nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. ¹⁵ That which is, ^(K)already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God ^(L)seeks what has been driven away.^[a]