Ecclesiastes 3:12-22 ▼

12 I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life,

13 indeed, even every man who eats and has drunk and seen good by all his labor, it [is] a gift of God.

14 I have known that all that God does is for all time, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God has worked that they fear before Him.

15 What is that which has been? Already it is, and that which [is] to be has already been, and God requires that which is pursued.

16 And again, I have seen under the sun the place of judgment—there [is] the wicked; and the place of righteousness—there [is] the wicked.

17 I said in my heart, “The righteous and the wicked God judges, for a time [is] to every matter and for every work there.”

18 I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves [are] beasts.

19 For an event [is to] the sons of man, and an event [is to] the beasts, even one event [is] to them; as the death of this, so [is] the death of that; and one spirit [is] to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole [is] vanity.

20 The whole are going to one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back to the dust.

21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth?

22 And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it [is] his portion; for who brings him to look on that which is after him?