Ecclesiastes 3
3
Chapter 3
A right time for everything
1There is a right time for everything.
Everything that we do on the earth has a proper time.
2There is a time to be born,
and there is a time to die.
There is a time to plant seeds.
There is a time to pull the plants out of the ground.
3There is a time to kill people.
There is a time to make people well.
There is a time to destroy things.
There is a time to build things.
4There is a time to weep.
There is a time to laugh.
There is a time to be sad.
There is a time to dance.
5There is a time to throw stones away.
There is a time to pick them up and use them.
There is a time to hug people.
There is a time to turn away from people.
6There is a time to look for things that you have lost.
There is a time to accept that you have lost them.
There is a time to keep things.
There is a time to throw things away.
7There is a time to tear our clothes.
There is a time to mend them.
There is a time to say nothing.
There is a time to speak.
8There is a time to love.
There is a time to hate.
There is a time for war.
There is a time for peace.
9People work very hard, but what do they receive in return? 10I have seen the difficult work that God has given people to do. He has caused them to be very busy. 11God has chosen a good time for all things to happen. He has caused people to think about things that will continue for ever. But nobody can completely understand everything that God has done, from the beginning of their lives to the end.
12So I realized that people should be happy. They should enjoy good things as long as they live. There is nothing better for people to do than that. 13People should be happy to eat and to drink. They should enjoy the work that they do. All these things are gifts from God.
14I know that everything that God does continues for ever. Nobody can add anything to it. Nobody can take anything away from it. God does these things so that people will respect his authority.
15Whatever is happening now has happened before.
Everything that will happen in the future has already happened.
God causes the same things to happen again and again. #3:15 God is the one who decides the right time for things to happen on the earth. We need to understand that he rules over all things. It is important to understand that God has a reason for all the things that he does. We will never understand everything that God does but we can enjoy our lives if we respect his authority.
Are people like animals?
16I saw something else that happens on the earth.
Judges should choose what is right,
but instead they choose what is wicked.
They should decide what is fair,
but they do evil things.
17I said to myself,
‘One day, God will judge everyone,
righteous people and wicked people.
He has chosen a time for everything.
So there is a right time when he will judge people.’
18I also thought, ‘God wants people to know that they are like animals. That is why he tests us. 19The same thing happens to humans as happens to animals. We all breathe for a time and then we die. Humans are no different to animals. Life has no purpose. 20All living things finally go to the same place. We all come from the dust of the ground. And we all go back to the dust when we die. #3:20 See Genesis 3:19. 21Do the spirits of humans go up into the sky when we die? Do the spirits of animals go down into the ground? Nobody really knows.’ #3:21 The Hebrew word for ‘spirit’ can also mean ‘breath’. The Teacher says more about this in Ecclesiastes 12:7.
22So I realized that people should enjoy the work that they do. That is the best thing for us to do. It is what God has provided for us. I think that is best, because nobody can show us what will finally happen to us.
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Ecclesiastes 3: EASY
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