 1 To every thing there is a season and a time for every purpose under the heavens. 2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pull up what is planted. 3 A time to kill 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 dance. 5 A time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. 6 A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear and a time to sew. A time to keep silence 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 What profit does one have who works in that in which one labors? 10 I have seen the task that God has given to the sons of men to be humbled by it. 11 He has made everything beautiful in His time. He has set eternity in their heart so that no one can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is no good in them but to rejoice and to do good in one's life. 13 Everyone should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all one's labor. It is the gift of God. 14 I know that whatever God does will be forever. Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. God does it so that they will fear Him. 15 What has been is now. What is to be has already been. God requires what is past. 16 Again I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there. Also the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked. For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. 18 I said in my heart concerning the matter of sons of men, that God might reveal them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to beasts, even one thing happens to them. As this one dies, so that one dies. Yes, they all have one breath. So that a man has no advantage over a beast. For all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are of the dust and all return to dust again. 21 Who knows that the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes downward? 22 Therefore I have seen that there is nothing better than that one should rejoice in one's own works. For that is one's portion. For who can bring one to see what will be after?
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