| 1 | For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: |
| 2 | a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what 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 throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; |
| 6 | a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; |
| 7 | a time to tear, 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 for war, and a time for peace. |
| 9 | What gain have the workers from their toil? |
| 10 | I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. |
| 11 | He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. |
| 12 | I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; |
| 13 | moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. |
| 14 | I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. |
| 15 | That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by. |
| 16 | Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. |
| 17 | I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work. |
| 18 | I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. |
| 19 | For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. |
| 20 | All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. |
| 21 | Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth? |
| 22 | So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them? |
