Kohelet - Chapter 3

(1) A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven:

(2) A time for being born^-b

and a time for dying,
A time for planting

and a time for uprooting the planted;

(3) A time for slaying

and a time for healing,^-c
A time for tearing down

and a time for building up;

(4) A time for weeping

and a time for laughing,
A time for wailing

and a time for dancing;

(5) A time for throwing stones

and a time for gathering stones,
A time for embracing

and a time for shunning embraces;

(6) A time for seeking

and a time for losing,
A time for keeping

and a time for discarding;

(7) A time for ripping

and a time for sewing,
A time for silence

and a time for speaking;

(8) A time for loving

and a time for hating;
A time for war

and a time for peace.

(9) What value, then, can human affairs get from what he earns? (10) I have observed the business that God gave humanity to be concerned with: (11) God brings everything to pass precisely at its time; God also puts eternity in their mind, but without humanity ever guessing, from first to last, all the things that God brings to pass. (12) Thus I realized that the only worthwhile thing there is for them is to enjoy themselves and do what is good in their lifetime; (13) also, that whenever a man does eat and drink and get enjoyment out of all his wealth, it is a gift of God. (14) I realized, too, that whatever God has brought to pass will recur evermore: Nothing can be added to it And nothing taken from it— and God has brought to pass that humans revere God.

(15) What is occurring occurred long since,

And what is to occur occurred long since: and God seeks the pursued. (16) And, indeed, I have observed under the sun: Alongside justice there is wickedness, Alongside righteousness there is wickedness. (17) I mused: “God will doom both righteous and wicked, for there is^-g a time for every experience and for every happening.” (18) So I decided, as regards humanity, to dissociate them [from] the divine beings and to face the fact that they are beasts. (19) For in respect of the fate of humanity and the fate of beast, they have one and the same fate: as the one dies so dies the other, and both have the same lifebreath; humanity has no superiority over beast, since both amount to nothing. (20) Both go to the same place; both came from dust and both return to dust. (21) Who knows if a human’s lifebreath does rise upward and if a beast’s breath does sink down into the earth? (22) I saw that there is nothing better for a human than to enjoy their possessions, since that is their portion. For who can enable them to see what will happen afterward?