Chapter 3

¹ To all things there is a time, and a season for every matter under heaven. ² A time of birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted; ³ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to pull down, and a time to build up; ⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to lament, and a time to dance; ⁵ a time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to abstain from embracing; ⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ⁷ a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak; ⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

⁹ What advantage has he that works in those things wherein he labours?

¹⁰ I have seen all the trouble, which God has given to the sons of men to be troubled with. ¹¹ All the things which he has made are beautiful in his time: he has also set the whole ¹world in their heart, that man might not find out the work which God has wrought from the beginning even to the end. ¹² I know that there is no good in them, except for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

¹³ Also in the case of every man who shall eat and drink, and see good in all his labour, this is a gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that whatsoever things God has done, they shall be for ever: it is impossible to add to it, and it is impossible to take away from it: and God has done it, that men may fear before him. ¹⁵ That which has been is now; and whatever things are appointed to be have already been; and God will seek out that which is past.

¹⁶ And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgement, there was the ungodly one; and the place of righteousness, there was the godly one. ¹⁷ And I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the ungodly: for there is a time there for every action and for every work.

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¹⁸ I said in my heart, concerning the speech of the sons of man, God will judge them, and that to shew that they are breasts. ¹⁹ Also to them is the event of the sons of man, and the event of the brute; one event befalls them: as is the death of the one, so also the death of the other; and there is one breath to all: and what has the man more than the brute? nothing; for all is vanity. ²⁰ All go to one place; all were formed of the dust, and all will return to dust. ²¹ And who has seen the spirit of the sons of man, whether it goes upward? and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth? ²² And I saw that there was no good, but that wherein a man shall rejoice in his works, for it is his portion, for who shall bring him to see any thing of that which shall be after him?