Ecclesiastes 3
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[an error occurred while processing this directive]New Living Translation
1[an error occurred while processing this directive]1For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
2[an error occurred while processing this directive]2A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3[an error occurred while processing this directive]3A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4[an error occurred while processing this directive]4A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.
5[an error occurred while processing this directive]5A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6[an error occurred while processing this directive]6A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7[an error occurred while processing this directive]7A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
8[an error occurred while processing this directive]8A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.
9[an error occurred while processing this directive]9What do people really get for all their hard work?
10[an error occurred while processing this directive]10I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.
11[an error occurred while processing this directive]11Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
12[an error occurred while processing this directive]12So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.
13[an error occurred while processing this directive]13And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
14[an error occurred while processing this directive]14And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.
15[an error occurred while processing this directive]15What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again. The Injustices of Life
16[an error occurred while processing this directive]16I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt!
17[an error occurred while processing this directive]17I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”
18[an error occurred while processing this directive]18I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals.
19[an error occurred while processing this directive]19For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless!
20[an error occurred while processing this directive]20Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust.
21[an error occurred while processing this directive]21For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth?
22[an error occurred while processing this directive]22So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Ecclesiastes 2
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