¹ To all there is an appointed time, even a time for every purpose under the heavens:

² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pull up what is planted;

³ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear 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 throw away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶ a time to seek, and a time to give up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew together; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

⁹ What advantage has he who works in that in which he labors?

¹⁰ I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men, to be humbled by it.

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has set eternity in their heart, without which man cannot find out the work that God makes from the beginning and to the end.

¹² I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice to do good in his life.

¹³ And also every man that eats and drinks, and sees good in his labor, it is the gift of God.

¹⁴ I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever; nothing is to be added to it, and nothing is to diminish from it. And God does it so that they fear before Him.

¹⁵ That which has been, it already is; and that which is to be, it already has been. And God seeks what has gone by.

¹⁶ And again I saw under the sun the place of justice: wickedness is there; and the place of righteousness, wickedness is there.

¹⁷ I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every matter and for every work.

¹⁸ I said in my heart concerning the issue of the sons of men, that God may test them and see that they by themselves are beasts.

¹⁹ For that which happens to the sons of men, and that which happens to beasts, even one event is to them. As this one dies, so that one dies; yea, one breath is to all; so that there is to the man no advantage over the beast; for all is vanity.

²⁰ All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all return to the dust.

²¹ Who knows the spirit of the sons of man, whether it goes upward; and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?

²² And I have seen that nothing is better than that the man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion; for who can bring him to see what shall be after him?