Ecclesiastes 3-4

Ecclesiastes 3

¹To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:

²a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build,

⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

⁶a time to search and a time to count as lost, a time to keep and a time to discard,

⁷a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What does the worker gain from his toil?

¹⁰I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them.

¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live,

¹³and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God.

¹⁴I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him.

¹⁵What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed.

¹⁶Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

¹⁷I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”

¹⁸I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”

¹⁹For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.

²⁰All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

²¹Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth?

²²I have seen 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 come after him?

Ecclesiastes 4

¹Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.

²So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.

³But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

⁴I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

⁵The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

⁶Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.

⁷Again, I saw futility under the sun.

⁸There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task.

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.

¹⁰For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!

¹¹Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone?

¹²And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

¹³Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning.

¹⁴For the youth has come from the prison to the kingship, though he was born poor in his own kingdom.

¹⁵I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed this second one, the youth who succeeded the king.

¹⁶There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.