Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 3"

Ecclesiastes 3

Common English Bible CEB

1 There's a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens:

2 a time for giving birth and a time for dying, a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted,

3 a time for killing and a time for healing, a time for tearing down and a time for building up,

4 a time for crying and a time for laughing, a time for mourning and a time for dancing,

5 a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones, a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,

6 a time for searching and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,

7 a time for tearing and a time for repairing, a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,

8 a time for loving and a time for hating, a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What do workers gain from all their hard work?

10 I have observed the task that God has given human beings.

11 God has made everything fitting in its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from beginning to end.

12 I know that there's nothing better for them but to enjoy themselves and do what's good while they live.

13 Moreover, this is the gift of God: that all people should eat, drink, and enjoy the results of their hard work.

14 I know that whatever God does will last forever; it's impossible to add to it or take away from it. God has done this so that people are reverent before him.

15 Whatever happens has already happened, and whatever will happen has already happened before. And God looks after what is driven away.

16 I saw something else under the sun: in the place of justice, there was wickedness; and in the place of what was right, there was wickedness again!

17 I thought to myself, God will judge both righteous and wicked people, because there's a time for every matter and every deed.

18 I also thought, Where human beings are concerned, God tests them to show them that they are but animals

19 because human beings and animals share the same fate. One dies just like the other—both have the same life-breath. Humans are no better off than animals because everything is pointless.

20 All go to the same place: all are from the dust; all return to the dust.

21 Who knows if a human being's life-breath rises upward while an animal's life-breath descends into the earth?

22 So I perceived that there was nothing better for human beings but to enjoy what they do because that's what they're allotted in life. Who, really, is able to see what will happen in the future?

English Standard Version ESV

1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what 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 gain has the worker from his toil?

10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;

13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

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

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

18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.

19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.

20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?

22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?