1901 American Standard Version (ASV)

Ecclesiastes 3

1 By the necessary change of times, vanity is added to human travail. 11 There is an excellency in God's works: 16 but as for man, God shall judge his works there, and here he shall be like a beast.

 3:1 ¶ For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:

 3:2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

 3:3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

 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 cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

 3:6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

 3:7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, 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 profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?

 3:10 I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

 3:11 He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.

 3:12 I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.

 3:13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.

 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God hath done it, that men should fear before him.

 3:15 That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.

 3:16 ¶ And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

 3:17 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.

 3:18 I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts.

 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity.

 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

 3:21 Who knoweth the spirit of man, whether it goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goeth downward to the earth?

 3:22 Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him [back] to see what shall be after him?