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 For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time of birth, and a time of death. A time of planting, and a time of harvest.
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time of killing, and a time of healing. A time of tearing down, and a time of building up.
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time of crying, and a time of laughing. A time of mourning, and a time of dancing.
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
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 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time of searching, and a time of giving up searching. A time of keeping, and a time of throwing away.
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time of tearing, and a time of mending. A time of keeping quiet, a time of speaking up.
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time of loving, and a time of hating. A time of warfare, and a time of peace.
8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
9 So what do you get for all your hard work?
9 What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
10 I have examined what God gives us to do.
10 I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
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 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.
12 I concluded that there's nothing better than being happy and looking for the good in life.
12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live.
13 In addition everyone should eat and drink and enjoy their work—this is God's gift to us.
13 Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.
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 I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him.
15 Whatever was, is; and whatever will be, has been, and God examines the whole of time.
15 That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago. God seeks again that which is passed away.
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 Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
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 I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
18 I also thought to myself, “Regarding what happens to human beings—God proves to us that we're no better than animals.”
18 I said in my heart, “As for the sons of men, God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals.
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 For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity.
20 They all end up in the same place—they all came from dust, and they all return to dust.
20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
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 Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?”
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 Therefore I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works, for that is his portion; for who can bring him to see what will be after him?
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)