1 For everything{kol: comprehensive total} there is a season{zman: appointed period}, and a time for every purpose under the heavens.
2 A time to give birth {la-ledet: bring forth life} and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot {la-aqor: remove by roots} what is planted.
3 A time to kill {harog: put to death} and a time to heal; a time to tear down {lifrotz: tear down forcibly} and a time to build up.
4 A time for weeping, and a time for laughter; a time to mourn {sefod: formal lamentation}, and a time to dance {rekod: ritual celebration}.
5 A time to cast aside {hashlikh: to throw forcibly} stones and a time to amass stones; a time to enfold in embrace {chavak: to hold closely} and a time to refrain from embracing.
6 A season to seek {vaqesh: actively pursue} and a season to lose; a season to keep and a season to dispose {hashlikh: discard}.
7 There is an appointed period to tear {likroaʿ: ritual tearing} and another to sew; an appointed period for silence and another for speaking {ledabber: deliberate speaking}.
8 A time for love and a time for hate; a time for war {milchamah: armed conflict} and a time for peace {shalom: wholeness, harmony}.
9 What profit {yitron: lasting gain} does the one who works have in that in which he toils {amel: strenuous effort}?
10 I have seen the task {‘inyan: laborious task} which God {Elohim, Sovereign Giver} has given to the children of man to be occupied with it.
11 He {Elohim, Time–Framer} has ordained that all things reach their beauty at the destined hour {itto: appointed season}. He has moreover implanted eternity in the human heart, yet people cannot trace the complete work that He has enacted from beginning to end.
12 I knew that there is no good in them except to rejoice {lismoach: celebratory joy} and to do good during his life {chayav: span of days}.
13 Also, when a person eats and drinks and sees good in all his labor{amalo: sustained effort}, this is the gift of God{Elohim, Sovereign Provider}.
14 I knew that whatever God {ha-Elohim, Eternal Sustainer} does will endure forever {le‘olam: unending duration}; nothing can be added to it and nothing can be taken from it. God has done it so that people would fear before Him.
15 What has been already exists, and what will be has already been; and God {Elohim, Sovereign Seeker} will seek the pursued {nirdaf: pursued one}.
16 And yet I saw {raiti: personal testimony} under the sun that in the place of judgment there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness {hatzedeq: moral rightness} there was wickedness.
17 I said in my heart, “God {Elohim, Righteous Judge} will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every purpose and for every deed {ma’aseh: concrete action} there.”
18 I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of humankind, “God {Elohim, Revealer of moral reality} tests them and enables them to recognize that they are beasts {behemah: unreasoning creatures}.”
19 For the fate of human beings and the fate of the beast is one fate for them; as one dies, so dies the other, and there is one spirit {ruach: animating breath} for all. There is no advantage for humanity over the beast, for all is vanity {hevel: fleeting vapor}.
20 All proceed to one place {maqom: designated destination}; all originate from dust, and all return {shav: revert to original state} to dust.
21 Who can discern the spirit {ruach: inner life force} of the children of man as it ascends, or the spirit of the animal {behemah: domesticated creature} as it descends to the earth?
22 So I saw that there is nothing better than a man rejoicing in his works {ma'asav: deeds or actions}, for that is his portion {chelko: allotted share}; for who will bring him to see what will come after him?