Ecclesiastes 3-4
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 3
A Time for Everything[a]
1 For everything there is a season,
and a time[b] for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to tear down, and a time to build up.
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 refrain from embracing.
6 A time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to discard.
7 A time to tear, and a time to mend;
a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
8 A time to love, and a time to hate:
a time for war, and a time for peace.
9 What gain does the worker have from his toil? 10 I have observed the tasks that God has designated to keep men occupied. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time, and he has given men a sense of past and future,[c] but they never have the slightest comprehension of what God has wrought from beginning to end.
12 I understand that man’s greatest happiness is to be glad and do well throughout his life. 13 And when we eat and drink and find satisfaction in all our labors, this is a gift of God.
14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or subtracted from it. God has done this so that everyone will be in awe standing in his presence.
15 Whatever is now has already been,
that which is to come already is,
and God will restore whatever might be displaced.
16 The Problem of Retribution.[d] Moreover, I observed something else under the sun:
Where justice should be, there was wickedness,
and iniquity was in the place of righteousness.
17 But I remained confident in my belief
that God will judge both the righteous and the wicked,
for he has appointed a time for every matter
and he will issue a judgment on every work.
18 I said to myself that in dealing with men it is God’s purpose to test them in order to show them that they are animals. 19 For the fate of men and beasts is identical: as the one dies, so does the other. They all have the same life-breath, and man has no advantage over the beast in this regard. For everything is vanity. 20 All go to the same place: all were made from the dust, and to the dust all will return.
21 Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of an animal goes downward to the earth?[e] 22 And so I came to realize that there is nothing better for man than to enjoy his work, since that is his lot. No one has the power to let him see what will happen after he is gone.
Chapter 4
The Victor and the Tyrant. 1 Then I contemplated all the acts of oppression that are committed under the sun:
I saw the tears of the oppressed,
with no one present to comfort them.
Power was wielded by their oppressors,
and no one was there to comfort them.
2 As a result, I regarded the dead as fortunate,
because they had already died
and thus were happier than the living
who were still alive.
3 But happier than both of these
is the one yet unborn
who has not witnessed the evil deeds
that are done under the sun.
Concurrence of Toil and Envy.[f] 4 Then I came to realize that all toil and skill in work derive from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chase after the wind.
5 The fool folds his arms
and consumes his own flesh.[g]
6 Better is one handful with peace of mind
than two handfuls with toil
and a chase after the wind.
Union Builds Strength. 7 Again I observed vanity under the sun:
8 There was a solitary individual,
without a friend, with neither a son nor a brother.
Yet there was no end to his toil,
and wealth did not satisfy his greed.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
“and depriving myself of pleasures?”
This also is vanity
and a worthless task.
9 Two are better than one:
they earn a far greater reward for their toil.
10 And if one should fall,
his companion will help him up.
How pathetic is the man who is alone and falls
and has no one to assist him to his feet.
11 In the same way, if two sleep together, they keep warm,
but how can one who sleeps by himself keep warm?
12 And where a single man can be overcome,
two together will be able to resist.
A cord with three strands is not easily broken.
13 Deception of Political Regimes.[h] Better is a poor but wise youth than an old and foolish king who will no longer take advice. 14 One can emerge from prison to be crowned as a king, even though he was born in poverty in that kingdom.
15 And I observed all those who live and move under the sun willingly give their support to that young man who succeeded the king.[i] 16 There was a mass of people beyond counting over whom he reigned. And yet those who succeed him will not venerate his memory. This also is vanity and a chase after the wind.
17 The Religious Illusion. Be circumspect when you visit the house of God. Drawing near to listen is far better than the offering of a sacrifice by fools, for fools do not know how to avoid doing wrong.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:1 Our mortality is neither chastisement nor recompense but only the mystery of the human condition. We participate better in God’s creation when we accept each moment as a gift.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1 Time: which is appointed by God (see Ps 31:16; Prov 16:1-9).
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 Given . . . a sense of past and future: or “has set eternity in their heart.”
- Ecclesiastes 3:16 By themselves human beings cannot decide anything about the last fate of the just and the unjust except that all must entrust themselves to God. Once again, only the present is accessible to human vision, and all the rest is a mystery.
- Ecclesiastes 3:21 Qoheleth expresses doubt about the final state of the human spirit, but by the end of the Book it is resolved: “the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Eccl 12:7). The answer was revealed gradually (see Pss 16:9-11; 49:16; 73:23-26; Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2-3) and fully revealed by Jesus who “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10).
- Ecclesiastes 4:4 Certainly labor and success would merit our praise if the desire to possess would not introduce the poison of jealousy therein. Observe how the two sayings in verses 5-6 are contradictory; the first was undoubtedly inserted later on by a scrupulous scribe.
- Ecclesiastes 4:5 Consumes his own flesh: i.e., refuses to work, thus going hungry and bringing on ill health (see Eccl 10:18; Prov 6:6-11; 24:30-34).
- Ecclesiastes 4:13 A government becomes entrenched in solitude, and it must be stripped of power through sedition. The history of Israel gives us nothing but too many examples of the terrible temptations of power.
- Ecclesiastes 4:15 Even a ruler is scarcely remembered after he has died.
