| 1. | For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: |
| 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. |
| 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? |
