Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 NIV84

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 NIV84 [1] There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: [2] a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, [3] a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, [4] a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, [5] a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, [6] a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, [7] a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent 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 does the worker gain from his toil? [10] I have seen the burden God has laid on men. [11] He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. [12] I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. [13] That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil---this is the gift of God. [14] I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. [15] Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. [16] And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment---wickedness was there, in the place of justice---wickedness was there. [17] I thought in my heart, "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed." [18] I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. [19] Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. [20] All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. [21] Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?" [22] So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

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