LEB - Ecclesiastes - 3

3:1  For everything there is an appointed time, a time for every matter under heaven:

3:2  a time to bear and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to root up what is planted;

3:3  a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up;

3:4  a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;

3:5  a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

3:6  a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away;

3:7  a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be 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 does the worker gain in his toil?

3:10  I have seen the busyness God gives to ⌞humans⌟ to preoccupy them.

3:11  He has made everything suitable in its time. He also has put ⌞the past⌟ in their hearts, yet no one can grasp what God does from the beginning to the end.

3:12  So I realized that there is ⌞nothing better⌟ for them than to ⌞rejoice and enjoy themselves⌟ during their lives.

3:13  And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, ⌞to enjoy the fruit of all his toil⌟, this also is a gift of God.

3:14  I know everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it, for God so acts that humans might stand in awe before him.

3:15  What is—it already was, and what will be—it already is, for ⌞God will do what he has done.⌟

3:16  I saw something else under the sun: instead of justice there was evil; instead of righteousness there was wickedness.

3:17  So I said ⌞to myself⌟, “God will surely judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time of judgment for every deed and every work.”

3:18  I said to myself concerning ⌞humans⌟, “God sifts them in order to show them that they are like beasts.”

3:19  For the fate of ⌞humans⌟ and the fate of the beast is ⌞the same⌟. The death of the one is like the death of the other, for ⌞both are mortal⌟. Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting.

3:20  Both go to one place—both came from dust and both return to dust.

3:21  For no one knows whether the spirit of a human ascends to heaven and whether the spirit of the beast descends to the ground!

3:22  So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy the fruit of his labor, for this is his lot in life. ⌞For no one knows what will happen in the future.⌟