Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 3

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
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?