1There is a season for everything, 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 pull 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 stones away, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to hold back from embracing;
6a time to get, 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 of war, and a time of peace.
9What does the worker gain from all his hard work?
10I have seen the hard task that God has given to the children of men to keep them busy.
11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set the world in their heart, so that no one can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end.
12I know there is nothing good in them, except for a person to be glad and to do good while he lives.
13And also that everyone should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his work: it is the gift of God.
14I know that whatever God does, it will last for ever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
15What has been is now; and what is to be has already been; and God requires what is past.
16And more than this, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there was evil.
17I said in my heart, "God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work."
18I said in my heart about the children of men that God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are animals.
19For what happens to the children of men happens to animals; the same thing happens to them both. As one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath, so that a man has no advantage over an animal. All is empty.
20All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?
22So I see that there is nothing better than that a person should be glad in his own work, for that is his portion. For who will bring him back to see what will come after him?