1 T o everything -- a season, and a time to every delight under the heavens:

2 A time to bring forth, And a time to die. A time to plant, And a time to eradicate the planted.

3 A time to slay, 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 skip.

5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to heap up stones. A time to embrace, And a time to be far from embracing.

6 A time to seek, And a time to destroy. A time to keep, And a time to cast away.

7 A time to rend, And a time to sew. A time to be silent, And a time to speak.

8 A time to love, And a time to hate. A time of war, And a time of peace.

9 W hat advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?

10 I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

11 T he whole He hath made beautiful in its season; also, that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end.

12 I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life,

13 y ea, even every man who eateth and hath drunk and seen good by all his labour, it a gift of God.

14 I have known that all that God doth is to the age, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God hath wrought that they do fear before Him.

15 W hat is that which hath been? already it is, and that which to be hath already been, and God requireth that which is pursued.

16 A nd again, I have seen under the sun the place of judgment -- there the wicked; and the place of righteousness -- there the wicked.

17 I said in my heart, `The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time to every matter and for every work there.'

18 I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves beasts.

19 F or an event the sons of man, and an event the beasts, even one event to them; as the death of this, so the death of that; and one spirit to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole vanity.

20 T he whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust.

21 W ho knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth?

22 A nd I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it his portion; for who doth bring him in to look on that which is after him?