Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 3"

Ecclesiastes 3

GNT

NIV

1 Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses.
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 He sets the time for birth and the time for death, the time for planting and the time for pulling up,
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down and the time for building.
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 the time for making love and the time for not making love, the time for kissing and the time for not kissing.
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 He sets the time for finding and the time for losing, the time for saving and the time for throwing away,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 the time for tearing and the time for mending, the time for silence and the time for talk.
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 He sets the time for love and the time for hate, the time for war and the time for peace.
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do we gain from all our work?
9 What do workers gain from their toil?
10 I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us.
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.
11 He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12 So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive.
12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
13 All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift.
13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
14 I know that everything God does will last forever. You can't add anything to it or take anything away from it. And one thing God does is to make us stand in awe of him.
14 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 people will fear him.
15 Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God makes the same thing happen again and again.
15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
16 In addition, I have also noticed that in this world you find wickedness where justice and right ought to be.
16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17 I told myself, "God is going to judge the righteous and the evil alike, because every thing, every action, will happen at its own set time."
17 I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”
18 I decided that God is testing us, to show us that we are no better than animals.
18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.
19 After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either.
19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.
20 They are both going to the same place - the dust. They both came from it; they will both go back to it.
20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.
21 How can anyone be sure that the human spirit goes upward while an animal's spirit goes down into the ground?
21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22 So I realized then that the best thing we can do is enjoy what we have worked for. There is nothing else we can do. There is no way for us to know what will happen after we die.
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.