Ecclesiastes · Free Bible Version
Ecclesiastes 3 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Everything has its own time—a time for all that happens here:
1 PARA todas las cosas hay sazón, y todo lo que se quiere debajo del cielo, [tiene su] tiempo:
2 A time of birth, and a time of death. A time of planting, and a time of harvest.
2 Tiempo de nacer, y tiempo de morir; tiempo de plantar, y tiempo de arrancar lo plantado;
3 A time of killing, and a time of healing. A time of tearing down, and a time of building up.
3 Tiempo de matar, y tiempo de curar; tiempo de destruir, y tiempo de edificar;
4 A time of crying, and a time of laughing. A time of mourning, and a time of dancing.
4 Tiempo de llorar, y tiempo de reir; tiempo de endechar, y tiempo de bailar;
5 A time of throwing away stones, and a time of gathering up stones. A time of embracing, and a time of avoiding embracing.
5 Tiempo de esparcir las piedras, y tiempo de allegar las piedras; tiempo de abrazar, y tiempo de alejarse de abrazar;
6 A time of searching, and a time of giving up searching. A time of keeping, and a time of throwing away.
6 Tiempo de agenciar, y tiempo de perder; tiempo de guardar, y tiempo de arrojar;
7 A time of tearing, and a time of mending. A time of keeping quiet, a time of speaking up.
7 Tiempo de romper, y tiempo de coser; tiempo de callar, y tiempo de hablar;
8 A time of loving, and a time of hating. A time of warfare, and a time of peace.
8 Tiempo de amar, y tiempo de aborrecer; tiempo de guerra, y tiempo de paz.
9 So what do you get for all your hard work?
9 ¿Qué provecho tiene el que trabaja en lo que trabaja?
10 I have examined what God gives us to do.
10 Yo he visto el trabajo que Dios ha dado á los hijos de los hombres para que en él se ocupasen.
11 Everything God does is beautifully timed, and even though he has also placed the idea of eternity in our minds, we can't fully understand what God does from beginning to end.
11 Todo lo hizo hermoso en su tiempo: y aun el mundo dió en su corazón, de tal manera que no alcance el hombre la obra de Dios desde el principio hasta el cabo.
12 I concluded that there's nothing better than being happy and looking for the good in life.
12 Yo he conocido que no hay mejor para ellos, que alegrarse, y hacer bien en su vida:
13 In addition everyone should eat and drink and enjoy their work—this is God's gift to us.
13 Y también que es don de Dios que todo hombre coma y beba, y goce el bien de toda su labor.
14 I also concluded that everything God does lasts forever: nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. God acts in this way so that people may stand in awe of him.
14 He entendido que todo lo que Dios hace, eso será perpetuo: sobre aquello no se añadirá, ni de ello se disminuirá; y hácelo Dios, para que delante de él teman los hombres.
15 Whatever was, is; and whatever will be, has been, and God examines the whole of time.
15 Aquello que fué, ya es: y lo que ha de ser, fué ya; y Dios restaura lo que pasó.
16 I also observed that here on earth there was evil even in the place where there was supposed to be justice; even where things were meant to be right, there was evil.
16 Vi más debajo del sol: en lugar del juicio, allí la impiedad; y en lugar de la justicia, allí la iniquidad.
17 But then I thought to myself, “Ultimately God will judge both those who do right and those who do wrong, and every deed and action, at the appointed time.”
17 Y dije yo en mi corazón: Al justo y al impío juzgará Dios; porque allí hay tiempo á todo lo que se quiere y sobre todo lo que se hace.
18 I also thought to myself, “Regarding what happens to human beings—God proves to us that we're no better than animals.”
18 Dije en mi corazón, en orden á la condición de los hijos de los hombres, que Dios los probaría, para que así echaran de ver ellos mismos que son [semejantes] á las bestias.
19 For what happens to human beings is the same as what happens to animals—in the same way one dies, the other dies too. They all have the breath of life—so regarding any advantage human beings have over animals, there is none. Definitely this is very hard to understand!
19 Porque el suceso de los hijos de los hombres, y el suceso del animal, el mismo suceso es: como mueren los unos, así mueren los otros; y una misma respiración tienen todos; ni tiene más el hombre que la bestia: porque todo es vanidad.
20 They all end up in the same place—they all came from dust, and they all return to dust.
20 Todo va á un lugar: todo es hecho del polvo, y todo se tornará en el mismo polvo.
21 Who really knows whether the breath of life of human beings goes up above, and the breath of life of animals goes down below to the earth?
21 ¿Quién sabe que el espíritu de los hijos de los hombres suba arriba, y que el espíritu del animal descienda debajo de la tierra?
22 So I concluded that there's nothing better than for people to enjoy their work. This is what we are meant to do. For who can bring anyone back from the dead to show them what will happen after they die?
22 Así que he visto que no hay cosa mejor que alegrarse el hombre con lo que hiciere; porque esta es su parte: porque ¿quién lo llevará para que vea lo que ha de ser después de él?
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Ecclesiastes 3:17; Matthew 16:3; Ecclesiastes 8:5–6; Ecclesiastes 7:14; 2 Kings 5:26
- 2 Hebrews 9:27; Job 14:5; Matthew 15:13; Jeremiah 18:7–10; John 16:21
- 3 Hosea 6:1–2; 1 Samuel 2:6; Jeremiah 45:4; Jeremiah 31:28; Deuteronomy 32:39
- 4 Romans 12:15; Psalm 30:5; James 4:9; John 16:20–22; Psalm 126:1–2
- 5 2 Kings 3:25; Joshua 10:27; Joshua 4:3–9; Joel 2:16; 1 Samuel 21:4–5
- 6 Philippians 3:7–8; Luke 9:24–25; Mark 8:35–37; Matthew 16:25–26; Mark 10:28–30
- 7 Micah 7:5; Amos 5:13; Esther 4:13–14; Lamentations 3:28; Acts 4:20
- 8 Ephesians 5:25; Ephesians 5:28–29; Luke 14:26; 1 Kings 5:4; 2 Chronicles 19:2
- 9 Ecclesiastes 1:3; Proverbs 14:23; Ecclesiastes 5:16; Ecclesiastes 2:22–23; Matthew 16:26
- 10 Ecclesiastes 1:13–14; Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 2:26; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8
- 11 Romans 11:33; Romans 1:19–20; Job 11:7; Ecclesiastes 8:17; Job 5:9
- 12 Psalm 37:3; Ecclesiastes 3:22; 1 Timothy 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:15–16; Acts 20:35
- 13 Ecclesiastes 9:7; Ecclesiastes 2:24; Isaiah 65:21–23; Psalm 128:2; Ecclesiastes 5:18–20
- 14 James 1:17; Psalm 33:11; Romans 11:36; Acts 5:39; Proverbs 30:6
- 15 Ecclesiastes 1:9–10; Ecclesiastes 6:10
- 16 Ecclesiastes 4:1; Ecclesiastes 5:8; 1 Kings 21:9–21; Psalm 58:1–2; Acts 23:3
- 17 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Ecclesiastes 3:1; Matthew 16:27; Psalm 98:9
- 18 Psalm 73:22; Psalm 49:12; Hebrews 9:27; 2 Peter 2:12; Genesis 3:17–19
- 19 Psalm 49:12; Psalm 49:20; Job 14:10–12; Ecclesiastes 2:14; Psalm 89:47–48
- 20 Genesis 3:19; Job 34:15; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Numbers 27:13; Job 10:9–10
- 21 Ecclesiastes 12:7; John 14:3; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Luke 16:22–23; Philippians 1:23
- 22 Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:11–12; Ecclesiastes 8:7; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 10:14
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" or of beast, as in the book of Solomon, "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" or of that physical spirit which is called wind, for so the Psalmist calls it: …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
And what Solomon spoke of others will suit you also; for he said, in that case, There is a time to bear and a time to die; but to you, in the reverse order, there was a time to die and a time to be born; and one and the same time effected both of these, and your birth …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
As of even honey repletion and satiety, though it be of honey, produce vomiting; and, as Solomon says and I think, there is a time for every thing, and that which is good ceases to be good if it be not done in a good way; just as a flower is quite out of season in winter, and just as …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Or perhaps this was the time for silence spoken of by Solomon the wise. For, when life is buffeted by so fierce a storm that all the intelligence of those who are instructed in the word is filled with the deceit of false reasoning and confounded, like an eye filled with dust, when men are stunned by strange and awful …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
And, accordingly, if these last had been still alive at the advent of our Lord, when the time not of casting stones away but of gathering them together had come, they would have immediately made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)