Ecclesiastes 3
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Mystery of Time
3 There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:(A)
2 a time to give birth and a time to die;(B)
a time to plant and a time to uproot;[a]
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;(C)
a time to mourn and a time to dance;(D)
5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;(E)
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;(F)
6 a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;(G)
8 a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.(H)
9 What does the worker gain from his struggles?(I) 10 I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied.(J) 11 He has made everything appropriate[b] in its time.(K) He has also put eternity in their hearts,[c] but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.(L) 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the[d] good life. 13 It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts.(M) 14 I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it.(N) God works so that people will be in awe of Him.(O) 15 Whatever is, has already been,(P) and whatever will be, already is. God repeats what has passed.[e]
The Mystery of Injustice and Death
16 I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness.(Q) 17 I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked,(R) since there is a time for every activity and every work.”(S) 18 I said to myself, “This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.”(T) 19 For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same.(U) As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile. 20 All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.(V) 21 Who knows if the spirit of people rises upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth? 22 I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities(W) because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?[f](X)
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:2 Lit uproot what is planted
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or beautiful
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or has put a sense of past and future into their minds, or has placed ignorance in their hearts
- Ecclesiastes 3:12 Lit his
- Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God calls the past to account, or God seeks what is past, or God seeks the persecuted; lit God seeks [the] pursued
- Ecclesiastes 3:22 Lit after him
Ecclesiastes 3
New Living Translation
A Time for Everything
3 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
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 cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet 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 do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
14 And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. 15 What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.
The Injustices of Life
16 I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! 17 I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”
18 I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. 19 For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe[a] and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! 20 Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. 21 For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.
Footnotes
- 3:19 Or both have the same spirit.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
