Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
Expanded Bible
There Is a Time for Everything
3 There is a ·time [season] for everything,
and ·everything [every activity] ·on earth [L under heaven] has its ·special season [time].
2 There is a time to be born
and a time to die.
There is a time to plant
and a time to ·pull up plants [uproot what has been planted].
3 There is a time to kill
and a time to heal.
There is a time to ·destroy [tear down]
and a time to build.
4 There is a time to cry
and a time to laugh.
There is a time to ·be sad [mourn]
and a time to dance.
5 There is a time to throw away stones
and a time to gather them.
There is a time to ·hug [embrace]
and a time ·not to hug [to refrain from embracing].
6 There is a time to ·look for something [seek]
and a time to ·stop looking for it [L give up as lost; or lose].
There is a time to keep things
and a time to throw things away.
7 There is a time to tear apart
and a time to sew together.
There is a time to be silent
and a time to speak.
8 There is a time to love
and a time to hate.
There is a time for war
and a time for peace.
God Controls His World
9 ·Do [L What do] people really ·gain anything [profit] from their ·work [toil; 1:3]? 10 I saw the ·hard work [task] God has given people to ·do [keep them occupied; 1:13]. 11 God has ·given them a desire to know the future [L placed eternity/an awareness of time/or ignorance in their hearts]. He ·does everything just right and on time [L makes everything appropriate/beautiful in its time], but people can never ·completely understand what he is doing [L discover/find the work that God does from beginning to end; C humans cannot discern the “right time”]. 12 So I ·realize [know] that ·the best thing [L there is nothing better] for them is to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live. 13 God wants all people to eat and drink and be happy in their ·work [toil], which are gifts from God [2:24–26; 3:22; 5:18–20; 8:15; 9:7–10; C the little pleasures are distractions from the meaningless world]. 14 I know that everything God does will continue forever. People cannot add anything to what God has done, and they cannot take anything away from it. God does it this way to make people ·respect [or be afraid of; 5:7; 7:18; 8:12, 13] him.
15 What happens now has happened in the past,
and what will happen in the future has happened before.
God makes the same things happen again and again.
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