Ecclesiastes 3–5

Everything Has Its Time

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

²a time to be born and a time to die;

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 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 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 throw away;

⁷a time to tear and a time to sew;

a time to keep silent and a time to speak;^*

⁸a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace.^*

The God-Given Task

⁹What gain have the workers from their toil?^{* 10}I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.^{* 11}He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.^{* 12}I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; ¹³moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. ¹⁴I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it; God has done this so that all should stand in awe before him.^{* 15}That which is already has been, that which is to be already is, and God seeks out what has gone by.^d*

Judgment and the Future Belong to God

¹⁶Moreover, I saw under the sun that, in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. ¹⁷I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter and for every work.”^{* 18}I said to myself with regard to humans that God is testing^e them to show that they are but animals.^{* 19}For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity.^{* 20}All go to one place, all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.^{* 21}Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?^{* 22}So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?^*

⁴Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them.^{* 2}And I commended the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive, ³but better than both is the one who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.^*

⁴Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.^*

⁵Fools fold their hands

and consume their own flesh.^*

⁶Better is a handful with quiet

than two handfuls with toil

and a chasing after wind.^*

⁷Again, I saw vanity under the sun: ⁸the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.^*

The Value of a Friend

⁹Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. ¹¹Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?^{* 12}And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who will no longer take advice.^{* 14}One can indeed come out of prison to reign, even though born poor in the kingdom.^{* 15}I saw all the living who, moving about under the sun, follow that^f youth who replaced the king;^{g 16}there was no end to all those people whom he led.^h Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.^*

Reverence, Humility, and Contentment

⁵ⁱGuard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools, for they do not know how to keep from doing evil.^{j* 2k}Never be rash with your mouth nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.^*

³For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words.

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow.^{* 5}It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it.^{* 6}Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words and destroy the work of your hands?

⁷With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words,^l but fear God.^*

⁸If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.^{* 9}But all things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a plowed field.^m

¹⁰The lover of money will not be satisfied with money, nor the lover of wealth with gain. This also is vanity.^*

¹¹When goods increase, those who eat them increase, and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

¹²Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not let them sleep.^*

¹³There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt,^{* 14}and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. ¹⁵As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil that they may carry away with their hands.^{* 16}This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go, and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?^{* 17}Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much anger and sickness and resentment.^*

¹⁸This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us, for this is our lot.^{* 19}Likewise, all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God.^{* 20}For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.