Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 3"

Ecclesiastes 3

New International Version NIV

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

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

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

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

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent 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 do workers gain from their toil?

10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.

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 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

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 endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

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 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 also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.

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 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

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?

The Message Bible MSG

1 There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

2 A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap,

3 A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct,

4 A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer,

5 A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part,

6 A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go,

7 A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up,

8 A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

9 But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does?

10 I've had a good look at what God has given us to do - busywork, mostly.

11 True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time - but he's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he's coming or going.

12 I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life.

13 That's it - eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift.

14 I've also concluded that whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God's done it and that's it. That's so we'll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear.

15 Whatever was, is. Whatever will be, is. That's how it always is with God.

16 I took another good look at what's going on: The very place of judgment - corrupt!

17 The place of righteousness - corrupt! I said to myself, "God will judge righteous and wicked." There's a right time for every thing, every deed - and there's no getting around it.

18 I said to myself regarding the human race, "God's testing the lot of us, showing us up as nothing but animals."

19 Humans and animals come to the same end - humans die, animals die. We all breathe the same air. So there's really no advantage in being human. None. Everything's smoke.

20 We all end up in the same place - we all came from dust, we all end up as dust.

21 Nobody knows for sure that the human spirit rises to heaven or that the animal spirit sinks into the earth.

22 So I made up my mind that there's nothing better for us men and women than to have a good time in whatever we do - that's our lot. Who knows if there's anything else to life?