3 | Ecclesiastes | ||
1 | For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: | A time for everything. Ec.3.1-15 | |
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. | Injustice in the world. Ec.3.16-4.16 | |
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? | ||
<< | Eccl:3 | >> |
---|