Ecclesiastes 3

1For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under the heavens.

2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.

3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build up.

4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

5A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.

6A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away.

7A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.

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

9What profit does the worker gain from his labor?

10I have seen the task that God has given humanity to be occupied with.

11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from beginning to end.

12I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good during their lives.

13And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy good in all his labor—this is God's gift.

14I know that whatever God does will endure forever; there is nothing to add to it, and there is nothing to take from it. God has done it so that they may fear before him.

15What is has already been, and what is to be has already been; and God seeks what is pursued.

16And I also saw under the sun that in the place of justice, there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, there was the wicked one.

17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every deed there.”

18I said in my heart concerning the sons of man that God is testing them so that they may see that they themselves are beasts.

19For the fate of the sons of man is the same as the fate of the beast: as one dies, so dies the other, and all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the beast, for all is vapor.

20All go to one place. All came from the dust, and all return to the dust.

21Who knows whether the spirit of human beings goes upward and whether the spirit of the animal goes down to the earth?

22So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to rejoice in what he does, for that is his portion. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?