Ecclesiastes 3-4

Ecclesiastes 3

¹For everything there is a fixed time, and a time for every business under the sun.

²A time for birth and a time for death; a time for planting and a time for uprooting;

³A time to put to death and a time to make well; a time for pulling down and a time for building up;

⁴A time for weeping and a time for laughing; a time for sorrow and a time for dancing;

⁵A time to take stones away and a time to get stones together; a time for kissing and a time to keep from kissing;

⁶A time for search and a time for loss; a time to keep and a time to give away;

⁷A time for undoing and a time for stitching; a time for keeping quiet and a time for talk;

⁸A time for love and a time for hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What profit has the worker in the work which he does?

¹⁰I saw the work which God has put on the sons of man.

¹¹He has made everything right in its time; but he has made their hearts without knowledge, so that man is unable to see the works of God, from the first to the last.

¹²I am certain that there is nothing better for a man than to be glad, and to do good while life is in him.

¹³And for every man to take food and drink, and have joy in all his work, is a reward from God.

¹⁴I am certain that whatever God does will be for ever. No addition may be made to it, nothing may be taken from it; and God has done it so that man may be in fear before him.

¹⁵Whatever is has been before, and what is to be is now; because God makes search for the things which are past.

¹⁶And again, I saw under the sun, in the place of the judges, that evil was there; and in the place of righteousness, that evil was there.

¹⁷I said in my heart, God will be judge of the good and of the bad; because a time for every purpose and for every work has been fixed by him.

¹⁸I said in my heart, It is because of the sons of men, so that God may put them to the test and that they may see themselves as beasts.

¹⁹Because the fate of the sons of men and the fate of the beasts is the same. As is the death of one so is the death of the other, and all have one spirit. Man is not higher than the beasts; because all is to no purpose.

²⁰All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all will be turned to dust again.

²¹Who is certain that the spirit of the sons of men goes up to heaven, or that the spirit of the beasts goes down to the earth?

²²So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work — because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?

Ecclesiastes 4

¹And again I saw all the cruel things which are done under the sun; there was the weeping of those who have evil done to them, and they had no comforter: and from the hands of the evil-doers there went out power, but they had no comforter.

²So my praise was for the dead who have gone to their death, more than for the living who still have life.

³Yes, happier than the dead or the living seemed he who has not ever been, who has not seen the evil which is done under the sun.

⁴And I saw that the cause of all the work and of everything which is done well was man's envy of his neighbour. This again is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

⁵The foolish man, folding his hands, takes the flesh of his body for food.

⁶One hand full of rest is better than two hands full of trouble and desire for wind.

⁷Then I came back, and I saw an example of what is to no purpose under the sun.

⁸It is one who is by himself, without a second, and without son or brother; but there is no end to all his work, and he has never enough of wealth. For whom, then, am I working and keeping myself from pleasure? This again is to no purpose, and a bitter work.

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their work.

¹⁰And if one has a fall, the other will give him a hand; but unhappy is the man who is by himself, because he has no helper.

¹¹So again, if two are sleeping together they are warm, but how may one be warm by himself?

¹²And two attacked by one would be safe, and three cords twisted together are not quickly broken.

¹³A young man who is poor and wise is better than a king who is old and foolish and will not be guided by the wisdom of others.

¹⁴Because out of a prison the young man comes to be king, though by birth he was only a poor man in the kingdom.

¹⁵I saw all the living under the sun round the young man who was to be ruler in place of the king.

¹⁶There was no end of all the people, of all those whose head he was, but they who come later will have no delight in him. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.