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Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 3

No One Can Determine the Right Time to Act

1 [a]There is an appointed time for everything,
    and a time for every affair under the heavens.
2 A time to give birth, and a time to die;
    a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
3 A time to kill, 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 be far from embraces.
6 A time to seek, and a time to lose;
    a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
7 A time to rend, 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 of war, and a time of peace.

9 (A)What profit have workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to mortals to be busied about. 11 (B)God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless[b] into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:1–8 The fourteen pairs of opposites describe various human activities. The poem affirms that God has determined the appropriate moment or “time” for each. Human beings cannot know that moment; further, the wider course of events and purposes fixed by God are beyond them as well.
  2. 3:11 The timeless: others translate “eternity,” “the world,” or “darkness.” The author credits God with keeping human beings ignorant about God’s “work”—present and future.
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Ecclesiastes 2
Ecclesiastes 4
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New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.