Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
Common English Bible
A season for everything
3 There’s a season for everything
and a time for every matter under the heavens:
2 a time for giving birth and a time for dying,
a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted,
3 a time for killing and a time for healing,
a time for tearing down and a time for building up,
4 a time for crying and a time for laughing,
a time for mourning and a time for dancing,
5 a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,
a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,
6 a time for searching and a time for losing,
a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,
7 a time for tearing and a time for repairing,
a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,
8 a time for loving and a time for hating,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Hard work
9 What do workers gain from all their hard work? 10 I have observed the task that God has given human beings. 11 God has made everything fitting in its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there’s nothing better for them but to enjoy themselves and do what’s good while they live. 13 Moreover, this is the gift of God: that all people should eat, drink, and enjoy the results of their hard work. 14 I know that whatever God does will last forever; it’s impossible to add to it or take away from it. God has done this so that people are reverent before him.[a] 15 Whatever happens has already happened, and whatever will happen has already happened before. And God looks after what is driven away.[b]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:14 Or to inspire awe before the divine
- Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God seeks out what is pursued, or God seeks what has gone by, or God seeks the pursued; Heb uncertain
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
New King James Version
Everything Has Its Time
3 To everything there is a season,
A (A)time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time [a]to be born,
And (B)a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to (C)weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
(D)A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
(E)A time to keep silence,
And a time to (F)speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to (G)hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
The God-Given Task
9 (H)What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 (I)I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that (J)no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
12 I know that nothing is (K)better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that (L)every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
14 I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
(M)Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.
15 (N)That which is has already been,
And what is to be has already been;
And God [b]requires an account of [c]what is past.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:2 Lit. to bear
- Ecclesiastes 3:15 Lit. seeks
- Ecclesiastes 3:15 what is pursued
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
