3:6 A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost; 1
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
3:7 A time to rip, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.
3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
3:9 What benefit can a worker 2 gain from his toil? 3
3:10 I have observed the burden
that God has given to people 4 to keep them occupied.
3:11 God has made everything fit beautifully 5 in its appropriate time,
but 6 he has also placed ignorance 7 in the human heart 8
so that 9 people 10 cannot discover what God has ordained, 11
from the beginning to the end 12 of their lives. 13
3:12 I have concluded 14 that there is nothing better for people 15
than 16 to be happy and to enjoy
themselves 17 as long as they live,
3:13 and also that everyone should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all his toil,
for these things 18 are a gift from God.
3:14 I also know that whatever God does will endure forever;
nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken away from it.
God has made it this way, so that men will fear him.
3:15 Whatever exists now has already been, and whatever will be has already been;
for God will seek to do again 19 what has occurred 20 in the past. 21
3:16 I saw something else on earth: 22
In the place of justice, there was wickedness,
and in the place of fairness, 23 there was wickedness.
3:17 I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked;
for there is an appropriate time for every activity,
and there is a time of judgment 24 for every deed.
3:18 I also thought to myself, “It is 25 for the sake of people, 26
so God can clearly 27 show 28 them that they are like animals.
3:19 For the fate of humans 29 and the fate of animals are the same:
As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath.
There is no advantage for humans over animals,
for both are fleeting.
3:20 Both go to the same place,
both come from the dust,
and to dust both return.
3:21 Who really knows if the human spirit 30 ascends upward,
and the animal’s spirit descends into the earth?
3:22 So I perceived there is nothing better than for people 31 to enjoy their work, 32
because that is their 33 reward;
for who can show them what the future holds? 34