Ecclesiastes 3–4

God Has Ordained the Ebb and Flow of Human Activities

3For everything there is an appointed time, a time for every matter under heaven:

²a time to bear^a and a time to die;

a time to plant and a time to root 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 weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance;

⁵a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones;

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 throw away;

⁷a time to tear and a time to sew;

a time to be silent and a time to speak;

⁸a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What does the worker gain in his toil?

No One Understands God’s Mysterious Plan

¹⁰I have seen the business God gives to humans^b to preoccupy^c them. ¹¹He has made everything suitable in its time. He also has put the past^d in their hearts, yet no one can grasp what God does from the beginning to the end. ¹²So I realized that there is nothing better^e for them than to rejoice and enjoy themselves^f during their lives. ¹³And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, to enjoy the fruit of all his toil,^g this also is a gift of God.

¹⁴I know everything God does endures forever;

nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it,

for God so acts that humans^h might stand in awe before him.

¹⁵What is—it already was,

and what will be—it already is,

for God will do what he has done.ⁱ

God’s Mysterious Plan Allows Injustice to Exist in the World

¹⁶I saw something else under the sun: instead of justice there was evil; instead of righteousness there was wickedness. ¹⁷So I said to myself,^j “God will surely judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed^k a time of judgment for every deed and every work.”

¹⁸I said to myself concerning humans,^l “God sifts^m them in order to showⁿ them that they are like beasts.” ¹⁹For the fate of humans^o and the fate of the beast is the same.^p The death of the one is like the death of the other, for both are mortal.^q Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting. ²⁰Both go to one place—both came from dust and both return to dust. ²¹For no one knows whether the spirit of a human ascends to heaven and whether the spirit of the beast descends to the ground!

²²So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy the fruit of his labor, for this is his lot in life. For no one knows what will happen in the future.^r

The Existence of Oppression in the World Makes Human Existence Miserable

4I looked again, and I saw all the oppression that occurs under the sun.

I saw the tears of the oppressed—

no one comforts them!

Those who oppress them are powerful—

no one can comfort them!^a

²So I deemed the dead who have already died

more fortunate than the living who are still alive.

³But better off than both of them is the one who has not yet been born

and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

People Need Balance in Their Approach to Labor

⁴I also realized that all of the toil and all of the skillful work that is done—it is envy between one man and another.^b This also is vanity and chasing wind!

⁵The fool refuses to work with his hands,

so he has nothing to eat except his own skin!^c

⁶Better is one handful with peace

than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Wealth without Someone with Which to Enjoy It is Futile

⁷I turned again and saw another vanity under the sun. ⁸Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. He laments, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself^d of pleasure?” This also is vanity—it is an unhappy business!

Friends and Family Can Help One Another in Life

⁹Two are better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will help up his companion. But pity the one who falls and there is no one^e to help him up. ¹¹Also if two lie together, they can keep each other warm.^f But how can one person be warm? ¹²Although an assailant may overpower one person, two may withstand him.^g A threefold cord is not easily broken!^h

One Must Be Willing to Listen to Counsel

¹³A poor but wise youth is better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to receive advice.^{i 14}For he came out of the prison house to reign, since he was born poor in his kingdom.^{j 15}I saw all the living who move about under the sun with the youth; the second who will stand in his place. ¹⁶There is no end to all the people, to all who were before him. Yet the later generation will not rejoice in him, for this also is vanity and chasing wind!