3:1  There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

3:2  a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3:3  a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

3:4  a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

3:5  a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

3:6  a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

3:7  a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

3:8  a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

3:9  What does the worker gain from his toil?

3:10  I have seen the burden God has laid on men.

3:11  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

3:12  I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.

3:13  That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.

3:14  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

3:15  Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.

3:16  And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

3:17  I thought in my heart,
"God will bring to judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time for every deed."

3:18  I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.

3:19  Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.

3:20  All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

3:21  Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

3:22  So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?