Ecclesiastes 3

Modern

Literal

To Everything There Is a Season

¹To everything there is a season,

and a time for every purpose under heaven:

¹To everything there is a season, and a time for every thing desired under the heavens:

²a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

²A time to give birth and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up the planted,

³a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to break down and a time to build,

³a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break 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,

⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together,

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

⁵a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

⁶a time to search and a time to count as lost,

a time to keep and a time to discard,

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

⁷a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁷a time to tear 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 for war and a time for peace.

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

God’s Works Remain Forever

⁹What does the worker gain from his toil?

⁹What is the profit of the one making in that which he toils?

¹⁰I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them.

¹⁰I have seen the task that God has given to the sons of man, to be occupied with it.

¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also eternity put in their heart, without which a man cannot find out the work that God has done from beginning even to end.

¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live,

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

¹³and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God.

¹³and also that every man should eat and drink and see good in all his toil—it is a gift of God.

¹⁴I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him.

¹⁴I know that everything that God does, it will be forever; to it nothing can be added, and from it nothing can be diminished; and God has done it that they should fear from before His face.

¹⁵What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed.

¹⁵That which has been already, it is; and that which is to be, it has already been—and God requires that which is pursued.

From Dust to Dust

¹⁶Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

¹⁶And again I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, there was wickedness.

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

¹⁷I said in my heart, “The righteous and the wicked, God will judge, because a time is to every activity, and for every work there.”

¹⁸I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”

¹⁸I said in my heart concerning the manner of the sons of man, “God is testing them, that they might see that they are beasts—they themselves.”

¹⁹For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath.^a Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.

¹⁹For an event is to the sons of man, and an event is to the beasts, one is and an event for them: As the death of this one, so is the death of this one; and one breath is to all, and the advantage of the man over the beast is nothing—for all is vapor.

²⁰All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

²⁰All are going to one place; all are from the dust, and all return to the dust.

²¹Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth?

²¹Who knows if the spirit of the sons of man, it is ascending upward, and the spirit of the beast, it is desending downward into the earth?

²²I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?

²²And I saw that nothing is better than that the man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?