Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

3For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.H2165H6256H2656H80642A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.H6256H3205H6256H4191H6256H5193H6256H6131H51933A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.H6256H2026H6256H7495H6256H6555H6256H11294A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.H6256H1058H6256H7832H6256H5594H6256H75405A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.H6256H7993H68H6256H3664H68H3664H6256H2263H6256H7368H22636A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.H6256H1245H6256H6H6256H8104H6256H79937A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.H6256H7167H6256H8609H6256H2814H6256H16968A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.H6256H157H6256H8130H6256H4421H6256H79659What do people really get for all their hard work?H3504H6213H834H600110I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.H7200H6045H430H5414H1121H120H603111Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.H6213H3303H6256H5414H5769H3820H1097H120H4672H4639H430H6213H7218H549012So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.H3045H2896H8055H6213H2896H241613And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.H120H398H8354H7200H2896H5999H4991H43014And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.H3045H430H6213H5769H369H3254H1639H430H6213H3372H644015What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.H3528H3528H430H1245H7291

The Injustices of Life

16I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt!H7200H8121H4725H4941H7562H4725H6664H756217I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”H559H3820H430H8199H6662H7563H6256H2656H463918I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals.H559H3820H1700H1121H120H430H1305H7200H1992H92919For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe

and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless!H4745H1121H120H4745H929H259H4745H4194H4194H2088H259H7307H120H4195H929H189220Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust.H1980H259H4725H6083H7725H6083H772521For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth?H3045H7307H1121H120H5927H4605H7307H929H3381H4295H77622So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is why we are here! No one will bring us back from death to enjoy life after we die.H7200H2896H120H8055H4639H2506H935H7200H310