Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

New International Version

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time^(A) for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,^(B)
³    a time to kill^(C) 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 refrain from embracing,
⁶    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent^(D) and a time to speak,
⁸    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What do workers gain from their toil?^(E) ¹⁰I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.^(F) ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time.^(G) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom^(H) what God has done from beginning to end.^(I)

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that

Ecclesiastes 12

New International Version

12 Remember^(A) your Creator
    in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble^(B) come
    and the years approach when you will say,
    “I find no pleasure in them”—
²before the sun and the light
    and the moon and the stars grow dark,
    and the clouds return after the rain;
³when the keepers of the house tremble,
    and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
    and those looking through the windows grow dim;
⁴when the doors to the street are closed
    and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
    but all their songs grow faint;^(C)
⁵when people are afraid of heights
    and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
    and the grasshopper drags itself along
    and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home^(D)
    and mourners^(E) go about the streets.

⁶Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
    and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
    and the wheel broken at the well,
⁷and the dust returns^(F) to the ground it came from,
    and the spirit returns to God^(G) who gave it.^(H)

⁸“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.^[a]^(I)
“Everything is meaningless!^(J)”

The Conclusion of the Matter

⁹Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.^(K) ¹⁰The Teacher^(L) searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.^(M)

¹¹The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails^(N)—given by one shepherd.^[b] ¹²Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.^(O)

¹³Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God^(P) and keep his commandments,^(Q)
    for this is the duty of all mankind.^(R)
¹⁴For God will bring every deed into judgment,^(S)
    including every hidden thing,^(T)
    whether it is good or evil.