1 For everything there is a season, and ^la time for every matter under heaven:

9 What ^xgain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen ^ythe business that ^zGod has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has ^amade everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot ^bfind out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is ^cnothing better for them than to be joyful and to ^ddo good as long as they live; 13 also ^ethat everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is ^fGod’s gift to man.

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; ^gnothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, ^halready has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God ⁱseeks what has been driven away.¹

16 Moreover, ^jI saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even ^kthere was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, ^lGod will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is ^ma time for every matter and for every work. 18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but ⁿbeasts. 19 ^oFor what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.² 20 All go to one place. All are from ^pthe dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether ^qthe spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is ^rnothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for ^sthat is his lot. Who can bring him to see ^twhat will be after him?