Ecclesiastes 3
3
The Mystery of Time
1There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven: # Ec 3:17; 8:6
2a time to give birth and a time to die; # Jb 14:5; Heb 9:27
a time to plant and a time to uproot; # Lit uproot what is planted
3a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;
4a time to weep and a time to laugh; # Rm 12:15
a time to mourn and a time to dance; # Ex 15:20
5a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; # 2Kg 3:19,25; Is 5:2
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; # 1Co 7:5
6a time to search and a time to count as lost;
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; # Am 5:13; 1Co 14:26-32
8a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace. # Mt 5:9; 10:34
9What does the worker gain from his struggles? # Ec 1:3 10I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied. # Ec 1:13; 2:26 11He has made everything appropriate # Or beautiful in its time. # Gn 1:31 He has also put eternity in their hearts, # Or has put a sense of past and future into their minds, or has placed ignorance in their hearts but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end. # Jb 5:9; Ec 7:23; 8:17; Rm 11:33 12I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the # Lit his good life. 13It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts. # Ec 2:24; 5:19 14I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. # Rv 22:18-19 God works so that people will be in awe of Him. # Ex 7:5; Ezk 36:23 15Whatever is, has already been, # Ec 1:9; 6:10 and whatever will be, already is. God repeats what has passed. # Or God calls the past to account, or God seeks what is past, or God seeks the persecuted ; lit God seeks the pursued
The Mystery of Injustice and Death
16I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness. # Ec 4:1; 5:8; 8:9 17I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, # Ec 11:9; Mt 16:27; Rm 2:6-10; 2Th 1:6-9 since there is a time for every activity and every work.” # Ec 3:1 18I said to myself, “This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.” # Ps 49:12,20; 73:22 19For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same. # Ec 9:12 As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile. 20All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust. # Gn 3:19; Ec 12:7 21Who knows if the spirit of people rises upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth? 22I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities # Ec 2:24 because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies? # Lit after him # Ec 2:18; 6:12; 8:7; 10:14
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Ecclesiastes 3: HCSB
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