Ecclesiastes 3:1–13

A Time for Everything

3For everything there is a season, and ^la time for every matter under heaven:

²a time to be born, and a time to ^mdie;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what 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 ⁿweep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to ^odance;

⁵a time to ^pcast away stones, and a time to ^qgather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to ^rrefrain from embracing;

⁶a time to seek, and a time to ^slose;

a time to keep, and a time to ^tcast away;

⁷a time to ^utear, and a time to sew;

a time to ^vkeep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸a time to love, and a time to ^whate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

⁹What ^xgain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰I have seen ^ythe business that ^zGod has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹He has ^amade everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot ^bfind out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I perceived that there is ^cnothing better for them than to be joyful and to ^ddo good as long as they live; ¹³also ^ethat everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is ^fGod’s gift to man.