Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 3"

Ecclesiastes 3

Revised Standard Version RSV

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 rend, 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 sons of men to be busy with.

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

12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;

13 also that it is God's gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.

14 I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has made it so, in order that men should 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 he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work.

18 I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men that God is testing them to show them that they are but beasts.

19 For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of 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 all turn to dust again.

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

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

Good News Translation GNT

1 Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses.

2 He sets the time for birth and the time for death, the time for planting and the time for pulling up,

3 the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down and the time for building.

4 He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing,

5 the time for making love and the time for not making love, the time for kissing and the time for not kissing.

6 He sets the time for finding and the time for losing, the time for saving and the time for throwing away,

7 the time for tearing and the time for mending, the time for silence and the time for talk.

8 He sets the time for love and the time for hate, the time for war and the time for peace.

9 What do we gain from all our work?

10 I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us.

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.

12 So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive.

13 All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift.

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.

15 Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God makes the same thing happen again and again.

16 In addition, I have also noticed that in this world you find wickedness where justice and right ought to be.

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."

18 I decided that God is testing us, to show us that we are no better than 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.

20 They are both going to the same place - the dust. They both came from it; they will both go back to it.

21 How can anyone be sure that the human spirit goes upward while an animal's spirit goes down into the ground?

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.