Ecclesiastes 3 - NIV

(Eccl 3:2 NIV) a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

(Eccl 3:3 NIV) a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

(Eccl 3:4 NIV) a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

(Eccl 3:5 NIV) a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

(Eccl 3:6 NIV) a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

(Eccl 3:7 NIV) a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

(Eccl 3:8 NIV) a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

(Eccl 3:9 NIV) What does the worker gain from his toil?

(Eccl 3:10 NIV) I have seen the burden God has laid on men.

(Eccl 3:11 NIV) 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.

(Eccl 3:12 NIV) I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.

(Eccl 3:13 NIV) That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God.

(Eccl 3:14 NIV) 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.

(Eccl 3:15 NIV) Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

(Eccl 3:16 NIV) And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment--wickedness was there, in the place of justice--wickedness was there.

(Eccl 3:17 NIV) 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."

(Eccl 3:18 NIV) I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.

(Eccl 3:19 NIV) 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.

(Eccl 3:20 NIV) All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

(Eccl 3:21 NIV) Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

(Eccl 3:22 NIV) 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?