A Season for Everything
Everything has its season, birth and death, war and peace, and no one can grasp the whole of what God has done, though he set eternity in the human heart. Corruption sits where justice should. People and animals breathe the same breath and share one grave.
3 1For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a time to be born, 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 tear down, and a time to build up; 4a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6a time to seek, and a time to lose; 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 for war, and a time for peace.
9What gain has the worker from his toil? 10I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them busy. 11He made everything beautiful in its time, and set eternity in the human heart—yet no one can grasp what God has done from start to end. 12I know nothing is better for them than to enjoy life and do good while they live. 13Also, that everyone eat, drink, and find satisfaction in all their work—this is God's gift. 14I know all God does lasts forever; nothing can be added, nothing removed. He has done it so people will fear before him. 15What is has already been, and what will be has already been; and God seeks out what was driven away.
Wickedness in the Place of Justice
16I also saw under the sun: evil in the place of judgment, and evil in the place of righteousness. 17I said in my heart: "God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there's a time for every matter and every deed, there." 18I said in my heart: "God tests people, so that they may see they're just animals." 19Humans and animals share one fate: one dies as the other dies; both have the same breath. Humans have no advantage over animals—all is vapor. 20All go to one place; all came from the dust, and all return to the dust. 21Who knows whether the human spirit goes up, and whether the animal's spirit goes down to the earth? 22So I saw nothing is better than a person rejoicing in their work, since that is their lot. For who can show them what comes after them?
