1 For everything there is a season, and a time for very purpose under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which 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 tear, 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 profit has he who works in that in which he labors?

10 I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men to be employed therewith.

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

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

13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor. [It] is the gift of God.

14 I know that, whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God has done it that men should fear before him.

15 That which is, has been long ago, and that which is to be, has long ago been. And God seeks again that which has passed away.

16 And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous man and the wicked man, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

18 I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are beasts.

19 For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts, even one thing befalls them; as the one dies, so dies the other. Yea, they all have one breath, and man has no preeminence above the beasts; for all is vanity.

20 All go to one place. All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

21 Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?

22 Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works, for that is his portion. For who shall bring him [back] to see what shall be after him?