Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3:

Verses from Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 of the book of Ecclesiastes of the Bible.

Everything has its own time

• 1. There is a season for everything, and there is a time for every purpose under heaven:
• 2. Time to be born and time to die, time to plant and time to uproot what was planted;
• 3. time to kill and time to heal, time to tear down and time to build;
• 4. a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance;
• 5. a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to hold back;
• 6. a time to search and a time to give up, a time to save and a time to throw away;
• 7. a time to tear and a time to sew, a time to be silent 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 does the worker gain from his effort?
• 10. I have seen the burden that God has placed on men.
• 11. He made everything appropriate to its time. He also placed eternity in the human heart; however, human beings cannot fully understand what God accomplished from the beginning to the end.
• 12. I realized that there is nothing better for human beings than to rejoice and do good while they live.
• 13. I also saw that all effort and skill in work comes from competition. This is also temporary, a passing breath.
• 14. I know that everything God does will remain forever; to this nothing can be added, and nothing can be subtracted from it. God acts this way so that men fear him.
• 15. What is, has been, and what will be, has been before; God will seek what is gone.
• 16. Moreover I beheld under the sun: In the place of righteousness there was wickedness; and in the place of righteousness, still more wickedness.
• 17. Then I thought in my heart: God will judge both the righteous and the wicked, for there is an appointed time for every purpose and for every work.
• 18. I also thought: God tests the children of men so that they may see that they are like animals.
• 19. For the destiny of the children of men is the same destiny of the animals; the same fate awaits them: as one dies, so dies the other. Everyone has the same breath of life; man has no advantage over animals, because everything is vanity.
• 20. Everyone goes to the same place; They all come from the dust, and to the dust they will all return.
• 21. Who can say whether the spirit of the children of men ascends upward, and whether the spirit of the beast descends to the earth?
• 22. Therefore, I concluded that there is nothing better for a human being than to rejoice in his works, because that is his reward; for who will show him what will happen after death?