A Time for Everything
Study note
The Teacher presents one of the Bible's most famous poems. He lists fourteen pairs of opposite activities, showing that every experience in life has its proper season. God is in control of the timing of all things, from birth to death, from crying to laughing, from war to peace.
1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 There is a season for being born and a season for dying. There is a season for planting and a season for pulling up what was planted. 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 There is a season for taking life and a season for healing. There is a season for demolishing and a season for constructing. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 There is a season for weeping and a season for celebrating. There is a season for mourning and a season for dancing. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 There is a season for throwing stones and a season for picking them up. There is a season for embracing and a season for stepping back. 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 There is a season for looking and a season for giving up the search. There is a season for holding on and a season for letting go. A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 There is a season for tearing apart and a season for stitching together. There is a season for staying silent and a season for opening your mouth. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 There is a season for loving and a season for hating. There is a season for fighting and a season for making peace. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
God Makes Everything Beautiful in Its Time
Study note
The Teacher asks what people gain from all their hard work. He concludes that God makes everything beautiful at the right time. God has also placed a desire for eternity in the human heart, but no one can fully understand everything God does. The best response is to enjoy life and do good, because this is God's gift.
9 So with all this in mind, what does the worker gain from all their effort? What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have taken a careful look at the exhausting work God has given the human race to keep them occupied. I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 God makes everything fitting and beautiful when its proper time arrives. He has also placed a longing for forever inside every human heart. And yet, no person can fully wrap their mind around the entire scope of what God is doing from beginning to end. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
12 Here is what I have concluded: the best thing people can do is be joyful and live well for as long as they are alive. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And whenever someone gets to eat, drink, and take real pleasure in their work, that is a straight-up gift from God. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
14 I understand that everything God does will stand permanently. You cannot add a thing to it, and you cannot take anything from it. God designed it this way so people would stand in awe of him. I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
15 Whatever is happening right now has already happened before, and whatever will happen in the future has happened already too. God keeps circling back to what has gone by. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
The Same Fate for People and Animals
Study note
The Teacher notices that injustice exists even in places meant for justice. He observes that people and animals share the same physical fate: both die and return to dust. No one can prove for certain what happens to the human spirit after death. So the Teacher advises people to enjoy their work, because that is their reward in this life.
16 Something else caught my attention in this world. In the very places where justice should have been happening, wickedness was there instead. In the very seats where fairness should have ruled, evil sat down. And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
17 I reminded myself, "God will bring both the righteous and the wicked to judgment. He has set a time for every action and every deed." I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
18 I also thought about people. God is testing us. He wants us to see something. In some ways, we are not so unlike the beasts. I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
19 Humans and animals face the same physical fate. Both die the same way. Both breathe the same air. When it comes to death, humans have no edge over the animals. It is all temporary. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 Both end up in the same place. Both came from dust, and both go back to dust. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 But who truly knows if the human spirit goes up and the animal spirit goes down into the earth? Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
22 So my conclusion is that the best thing people can do is enjoy their work, because that is the portion they have been given. Nobody can show them a preview of what is coming after they are gone. Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?