Ecclesiastes 3
3
There Is a Time for Everything
1There is a time for everything.
There’s a time for everything that is done on earth.
2There is a time to be born.
And there’s a time to die.
There is a time to plant.
And there’s a time to pull up what is planted.
3There is a time to kill.
And there’s a time to heal.
There is a time to tear down.
And there’s a time to build up.
4There is a time to weep.
And there’s a time to laugh.
There is a time to be sad.
And there’s a time to dance.
5There is a time to scatter stones.
And there’s a time to gather them.
There is a time to embrace someone.
And there’s a time not to embrace.
6There is a time to search.
And there’s a time to stop searching.
There is a time to keep.
And there’s a time to throw away.
7There is a time to tear.
And there’s a time to mend.
There is a time to be silent.
And there’s a time to speak.
8There is a time to love.
And there’s a time to hate.
There is a time for war.
And there’s a time for peace.
9What do workers get for their hard work? 10I’ve seen the heavy load God has put on human beings. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also given people a sense of who he is. But they can’t completely understand what God has done from beginning to end. 12People should be happy and do good while they live. I know there’s nothing better for them to do than that. 13Each of them should eat and drink. People should be satisfied with all their hard work. That is God’s gift to them. 14I know that everything God does will last forever. Nothing can be added to it. And nothing can be taken from it. God does that so people will have respect for him.
15Everything that now exists has already been.
And what is coming has existed before.
God will judge those who treat others badly.
16Here’s something else I saw on earth.
Where people should be treated right,
they are treated wrong.
Where people should be treated fairly,
they are treated unfairly.
17I said to myself,
“God will judge
godly and sinful people alike.
He has a time for every act.
He has a time to judge everything that is done.”
18I also said to myself, “God tests human beings. He does this so they can see that in certain ways they are like animals. 19Surely what happens to animals happens to people too. Death waits for people and animals alike. People die, just as animals do. All of them have the same breath. People don’t have any advantage over animals. Nothing has any meaning. 20People and animals go to the same place. All of them come from dust. And all of them return to dust. 21Who can know whether the spirit of a person goes up? Who can tell whether the spirit of an animal goes down into the earth?”
22So a person should enjoy their work. That’s what God made them for. I saw that there’s nothing better for them to do than that. After all, who can show them what will happen after they are gone?
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Ecclesiastes 3: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Ecclesiastes 3
3
1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 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; 5a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6a time to get, 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 keep silence, and a time to speak; 8a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 9What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? 10I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11He 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. 12I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. 13And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. 14I 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. 15That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
16And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. 17I 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. 18I 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. 19For 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. 20All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? 22Wherefore 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?
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