Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a right/correct time for everything, a time for everything that we do in this world.
Everything has its own time—a time for all that happens here:
2 There is a time to be born, and there is a time to die. There is a time to plant [seeds], and there is a time to harvest crops.
A time of birth, and a time of death. A time of planting, and a time of harvest.
3 There is a time to kill [people], and there is a time to heal [people]. There is a time to tear things down, and there is a time to build things.
A time of killing, and a time of healing. A time of tearing down, and a time of building up.
4 There is a time to cry, and there is a time to laugh. There is a time to mourn, and there is a time to dance [joyfully].
A time of crying, and a time of laughing. A time of mourning, and a time of dancing.
5 There is a time to throw away stones [from a field], and there is a time to gather stones [to build walls/houses]. There is a time to embrace [people], and there is a time to not embrace [people].
A time of throwing away stones, and a time of gathering up stones. A time of embracing, and a time of avoiding embracing.
6 There is a time to search for things, and there is a time to stop searching for things. There is a time to keep/save things, and there is a time to throw things away.
A time of searching, and a time of giving up searching. A time of keeping, and a time of throwing away.
7 There is a time to tear [our old clothes], and there is a time to mend [clothes]. There is a time to say nothing, and there is a time when we should speak.
A time of tearing, and a time of mending. A time of keeping quiet, a time of speaking up.
8 There is a time when we should love [things that people do], and there is a time when we should hate [things that people do]. There is a time for war, and there is a time for peace.
A time of loving, and a time of hating. A time of warfare, and a time of peace.
9 (What do people gain from all the work that they do?/It seems that people gain very little from all the work that they do [RHQ]).
So what do you get for all your hard work?
10 I have seen the work that God has given people to do.
I have examined what God gives us to do.
11 God has appointed a time that is right/correct for everything to happen. He has [also] caused people to realize that there are things that will endure forever. But in spite of that, no one can completely understand everything that God has done, from the time that he starts doing things until he finishes them.
Everything God does is beautifully timed, and even though he has also placed the idea of eternity in our minds, we can't fully understand what God does from beginning to end.
12 I know that the best [LIT] thing for us people to do is to rejoice and to do good things [all] during the time that we are alive.
I concluded that there's nothing better than being happy and looking for the good in life.
13 And I also know that everyone should eat and drink, and enjoy the work that they do. Those are things that God gives to us.
In addition everyone should eat and drink and enjoy their work—this is God's gift to us.
14 I [also] know that what God does endures forever. No one can add to what God does, and no one can take away from the things that God does. God does those things in order that people would revere him.
I also concluded that everything God does lasts forever: nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. God acts in this way so that people may stand in awe of him.
15 Things that exist now have already existed previously, and things that will happen in the future have already happened previously; God causes the same things to happen many times.
Whatever was, is; and whatever will be, has been, and God examines the whole of time.
16 Furthermore, I saw that on this earth [MTY], even in the courts where we expect judges to make right decisions about what people had done, they did many wicked [DOU] things.
I also observed that here on earth there was evil even in the place where there was supposed to be justice; even where things were meant to be right, there was evil.
17 [So] I said to myself [SYN], “God will judge [both] righteous [people] and wicked [people]; there is a time [for him to do that], because there is a time for him to do everything.”
But then I thought to myself, “Ultimately God will judge both those who do right and those who do wrong, and every deed and action, at the appointed time.”
18 And regarding humans, I [also] said to myself, “God is testing us, to show us that [in one way] people are no different than animals,
I also thought to myself, “Regarding what happens to human beings—God proves to us that we're no better than animals.”
19 because what happens to people happens to animals. Animals die, and people die. We all must breathe [to remain alive]. [With regard to that], people have no advantage over animals, so I have a difficult time understanding that.
For what happens to human beings is the same as what happens to animals—in the same way one dies, the other dies too. They all have the breath of life—so regarding any advantage human beings have over animals, there is none. Definitely this is very hard to understand!
20 [People and animals] all die and are buried. We are all made of soil, and [when we die], our corpses become soil again.
They all end up in the same place—they all came from dust, and they all return to dust.
21 No one knows [RHQ] for sure that when we die, our souls/spirits go up to heaven and the souls/spirits of animals go down to the place where the dead are.”
Who really knows whether the breath of life of human beings goes up above, and the breath of life of animals goes down below to the earth?
22 So I concluded that the best thing for [us] people to do is to be happy about the work that we do, because that is what God has given to us. I say that because no one of us [RHQ] knows what happens to us after we die.
So I concluded that there's nothing better than for people to enjoy their work. This is what we are meant to do. For who can bring anyone back from the dead to show them what will happen after they die?
