[1] For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under
heaven: [2] a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a
time to pluck up what is planted; [3] a time to kill, and a time to heal; a
time to break down, and a time to build up; [4] a time to weep, and a time
to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; [5] a time to cast away
stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time
to refrain from embracing; [6] a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time
to keep, and a time to cast away; [7] a time to rend, and a time to sew; a
time to keep silence, and a time to speak; [8] a time to love, and a time
to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. [9] What gain has the worker
from his toil? [10] I have seen the business that God has given to the sons
of men to be busy with. [11] He has made everything beautiful in its time;
also he has put eternity into man's mind, yet so that he 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; [13] also that it is God's gift to man that every one should eat
and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. [14] I know that whatever God
does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from
it; God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him. [15] That
which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God
seeks what has been driven away. [16] Moreover I saw under the sun that in
the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of
righteousness, even there was wickedness. [17] I said in my heart, God will
judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every
matter, and for every work. [18] I said in my heart with regard to the sons
of men that God is testing them to show them that they are but beasts. [19]
For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one
dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no
advantage over the beasts; 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
spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the
earth? [22] So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should
enjoy his work, for that is his lot; who can bring him to see what will be
after him?