King James VersionEcclesiastes3

Ecclesiastes

1 To ev­ery thing there is a sea­son, and a time to ev­ery pur­pose un­der the heav­en: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which 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 weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gath­er stones to­geth­er; a time to em­brace, and a time to re­frain from em­brac­ing; 6 A time to get, 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 keep si­lence, 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 prof­it hath he that wor­keth in that where­in he laboureth? 10 I have seen the tra­vail, which God hath giv­en to the sons of men to be ex­er­cised in it. 11 He hath made ev­ery thing beau­ti­ful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the be­gin­ning to the end. 12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to re­joice, and to do good in his life. 13 And also that ev­ery man should eat and drink, and en­joy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. 14 I know that, what­so­ev­er God doeth, it shall be for ev­er: noth­ing can be put to it, nor any thing tak­en from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear be­fore him. 15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath al­ready been; and God re­quireth that which is past. 16 And more­over I saw un­der the sun the place of judg­ment, that wicked­ness was there; and the place of righ­teous­ness, that in­iq­ui­ty was there. 17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righ­teous and the wicked: for there is a time there for ev­ery pur­pose and for ev­ery work. 18 I said in mine heart con­cern­ing the es­tate of the sons of men, that God might man­i­fest them, and that they might see that they them­selves are beasts. 19 For that which be­fal­l­eth the sons of men be­fal­l­eth beasts; even one thing be­fal­l­eth them: as the one di­eth, so di­eth the oth­er; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre­em­i­nence above a beast: for all is van­i­ty. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knoweth the spir­it of man that goeth up­ward, and the spir­it of the beast that goeth down­ward to the earth? 22 Where­fore I per­ceive that there is noth­ing bet­ter, than that a man should re­joice in his own works; for that is his por­tion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be af­ter him?