¹For everything there is an appointed time, and a time for every purpose under the skies.

²A time to bring forth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.

³A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build.

⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

⁵A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to keep far from embracing.

⁶A time to seek, and a time to let perish; a time to keep, and a time to throw away.

⁷A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

⁸A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of wholeness.

⁹What profit has the doer in that which he labors?

¹⁰I have seen the task which God has given to the children of man, to be afflicted by it.

¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time; he has also put forever in their heart, so that man will not find the work that God has done from the beginning to the end.

¹²I know that there is no good in them except to rejoice and to do good in his life.

¹³And also every man who eats and drinks and sees good in all his toil, it is the gift of God.

¹⁴I know that all that God does, it will be forever; there is nothing to add to it, and nothing to take away from it. And God has acted so that people will fear before him.

¹⁵What has been already is, and what is to be has already been. And God seeks what is pursued.

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

¹⁷I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every purpose and for every deed there.

¹⁸I said in my heart, on account of the children of man, God tests them so that they may see that they are animals, they for themselves.

¹⁹For the fate of the children of man and the fate of the animals is the same: one fate belongs to them; like the death of this one, so is the death of that one, and one wind belongs to all; man has no advantage over the animals, for everything is vapor.

²⁰Everything goes to one place; everything was from the dust, and everything returns to the dust.

²¹Who knows the breath of the children of man, that it ascends upward, and the breath of the livestock, that it descends downward to the land?

²²And I saw that there is no good other than that a man rejoices in his works, for that is his portion; for who will bring him to see what will be after him?