| 1 There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven: | 1 There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. |
| 2 A time for giving birth, a time for dying; a time for planting, a time for uprooting what has been planted. | 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. |
| 3 A time for kil ing, a time for healing; a time for knocking down, a time for building. | 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. |
| 4 A time for tears, a time for laughter; a time for mourning, a time for dancing. | 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. |
| 5 A time for throwing stones away, a time for gathering them; a time for embracing, a time to refrain fromembracing. | 5 A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. |
| 6 A time for searching, a time for losing; a time for keeping, a time for discarding. | 6 A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. |
| 7 A time for tearing, a time for sewing; a time for keeping silent, a time for speaking. | 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. |
| 8 A time for loving, a time for hating; a time for war, a time for peace. | 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. |
| 9 What do people gain from the efforts they make? | 9 What advantage has the worker from his toil? |
| 10 I contemplate the task that God gives humanity to labour at. | 10 I have considered the task which God has appointed for men to be busied about. |
| 11 All that he does is apt for its time; but although he has given us an awareness of the passage of time,we can grasp neither the beginning nor the end of what God does. | 11 He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men's ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. |
| 12 I know there is no happiness for a human being except in pleasure and enjoyment through life. | 12 I recognized that there is nothing better than to be glad and to do well during life. |
| 13 And when we eat and drink and find happiness in all our achievements, this is a gift from God. | 13 For every man, moreover, to eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of all his labor is a gift of God. |
| 14 I know that whatever God does wil be for ever. To this there is nothing to add, from this there isnothing to subtract, and the way God acts inspires dread. | 14 I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it, or taking from it. Thus has God done that he may be revered. |
| 15 What is, has been already, what will be, is already; God seeks out anyone who is persecuted. | 15 What now is has already been; what is to be, already is; and God restores what would otherwise be displaced. |
| 16 Again I observe under the sun: crime is where justice should be, the criminal is where the uprightshould be. | 16 And still under the sun in the judgment place I saw wickedness, and in the seat of justice, iniquity. |
| 17 And I think to myself: the upright and the criminal will both be judged by God, since there is a time forevery thing and every action here. | 17 And I said to myself, both the just and the wicked God will judge, since there is a time for every affair and on every work a judgment. |
| 18 I think to myself: where human beings are concerned, this is so that God can test them and show themthat they are animals. | 18 I said to myself: As for the children of men, it is God's way of testing them and of showing that they are in themselves like beasts. |
| 19 For the fate of human and the fate of animal is the same: as the one dies, so the other dies; both havethe selfsame breath. Human is in no way better off than animal -- since al is futile. | 19 For the lot of man and of beast is one lot; the one dies as well as the other. Both have the same life-breath, and man has no advantage over the beast; but all is vanity. |
| 20 Everything goes to the same place, everything comes from the dust, everything returns to the dust. | 20 Both go to the same place; both were made from the dust, and to the dust they both return. |
| 21 Who knows if the human spirit mounts upward or if the animal spirit goes downward to the earth? | 21 Who knows if the life-breath of the children of men goes upward and the life-breath of beasts goes earthward? |
| 22 I see there is no contentment for a human being except happiness in achievement; such is the lot of ahuman beings. No one can tel us what wil happen after we are gone. | 22 And I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to rejoice in his work; for this is his lot. Who will let him see what is to come after him? |