Ecclesiastes 3:1–13

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: ²a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; ³a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ⁵a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ⁷a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; ⁸a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. ⁹What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? ¹⁰I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. ¹¹He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. ¹²I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live. ¹³And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.