RSV Ecc 3 Chapter
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3:1
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
3:2
a time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3:3
a time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;
3:4
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
3:5
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
3:6
a time to seek, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
3:7
a time to rend, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
3:8
a time to love, and a time to hate;a time for war, and a time for peace.
3:9
What gain has the worker from his toil?
3:10
I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with.
3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time;also he has put eternity into man's mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
3:12
I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;
3:13
also that it is God's gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.
3:14
I know that whatever God does endures for ever;nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it;God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him.
3:15
That which is, already has been;that which is to be, already has been;and God seeks what has been driven away.
3:16
Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.
3:17
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.
3:18
I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men that God is testing them to show them that they are but beasts.
3:19
For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same;as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts;for all is vanity.
3:20
All go to one place;all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
3:21
Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth?
3:22
So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should enjoy his work, for that is his lot;who can bring him to see what will be after him?