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; 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 in which he laboreth? 10: I have seen the labor, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11: He hath made every [thing] beautiful in its 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 labor, it [is] the gift of God. 14: I know that, whatever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be added 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 my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked: for [there is] a time there for every purpose and for every work. 18: I said in my heart concerning the state 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; yes, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity. 20: All go to 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?
