Ecclesiastes 2:24-3:13

English Standard Version

²⁴^(A)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(B)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(C)from the hand of God, ²⁵for apart from him^[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the one who pleases him ^(D)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(E)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(F)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(G)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season, and ^(H)a time for every matter under heaven:

²a time to be born, and a time to ^(I)die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴a time to ^(J)weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to ^(K)dance;
⁵a time to ^(L)cast away stones, and a time to ^(M)gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to ^(N)refrain from embracing;
⁶a time to seek, and a time to ^(O)lose;
a time to keep, and a time to ^(P)cast away;
⁷a time to ^(Q)tear, and a time to sew;
a time to ^(R)keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸a time to love, and a time to ^(S)hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

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

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 2:24 Or and make his soul see good
Ecclesiastes 2:25 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts apart from me