Ecclesiastes 3:1-20

¹To all things there is a time, and a season for every matter under heaven.

²A time of birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted;

³a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to pull down, and a time to build up;

⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to lament, and a time to dance;

⁵a time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to abstain from embracing;

⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak;

⁸a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

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

¹⁰I have seen all the trouble, which God has given to the sons of men to be troubled with.

¹¹All the things which he has made are beautiful in his time: he has also set the whole world in their heart, that man might not find out the work which God has wrought from the beginning even to the end.

¹²I know that there is no good in them, except for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

¹³Also in the case of every man who shall eat and drink, and see good in all his labor, this is a gift of God.

¹⁴I know that whatever 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.

¹⁵That which has been is now; and whatever things are appointed to be have already been; and God will seek out that which is past.

¹⁶And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, there was the ungodly one; and the place of righteousness, there was the godly one.

¹⁷And 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.

¹⁸I said in my heart, concerning the speech of the sons of man, God will judge them, and that to show that they are breasts.

¹⁹Also 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.

²⁰All go to one place; all were formed of the dust, and all will return to dust.