ECCLESIASTES 3 [†]For everything there is a season, and  l a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to  m die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up 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  n weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to  o dance;

5 a time to  p cast away stones, and a time to  q gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to  r refrain from embracing;

6[†] a time to seek, and a time to  s lose;

a time to keep, and a time to  t cast away;

7 a time to  u tear, and a time to sew;

a time to  v keep silence, and a time to speak;

8[†] a time to love, and a time to  w hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

9[†]What  x gain has the worker from his toil? 10I have seen  y the business that  z God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11[^][†]He has  a made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot  b find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12[^][†]I perceived that there is  c nothing better for them than to be joyful and to  d do good as long as they live; 13also  e that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is  f God’s gift to man.

14[†]I perceived that whatever God does endures forever;  g nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15That which is,  h already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God  i seeks what has been driven away. [1]

16[†]Moreover,  j I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even  k there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17[^]I said in my heart,  l God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is  m a time for every matter and for every work. 18[†]I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but  n beasts. 19 o For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. [2] 20[^]All go to one place. All are from  p the dust, and to dust all return. 21[†]Who knows whether  q the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22So I saw that there is  r nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for  s that is his lot. Who can bring him to see  t what will be after him?