Ecclesiastes 3 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Persian or early Hellenistic period (ca. 450-250 BC)
Location
Judah (likely Jerusalem)
Audience
Post-exilic Jewish community in Judah
Situation
Qoheleth (the Teacher) presents a poem on the appointed times for every activity under heaven, reflecting on life's cyclical nature amid observations of human toil and divine sovereignty.
Key Background
Ecclesiastes belongs to Israel's wisdom literature, traditionally ascribed to Solomon but likely composed pseudonymously centuries later during a time of foreign rule and cultural influences. The chapter addresses existential questions about meaning and timing in a seemingly futile world 'under the sun,' urging readers to recognize God's eternal plan. This context of skepticism and Hellenistic thought underscores the call to enjoy life as a gift from God while submitting to His inscrutable purposes.
For everything there is a and a for every under the sky:
A time to be and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to what was planted.
A time to and a time to heal. A time to down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to and a time to
A time to and a time to gather them. A time to and a time to step back from embracing.
A time to and a time to go. A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to and a time to A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for
What does the worker actually from all their
I've seen the that has placed on human beings to keep them occupied.
He has made everything in its time. He has also set in their hearts — yet no one can discover what God has done from beginning to end.
I realized that there is nothing better for people than to and do while they live.
And also, whenever someone eats and drinks and finds in all their toil — that is a from God.
I realized that everything God does will Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away. God does this so that people will in before him.
Whatever exists has already been, and whatever will be already is. God what has been
And I saw something else under the sun: in the place meant for there was In the place meant for what is there was
I said to myself, "God will both the just and the wicked, because there is a time for every matter and every action there."
I said to myself about human beings, "God is them so they can see that they are, by themselves, just
Because what happens to human beings and what happens to animals is the same thing — as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same Humans have no over animals. Everything is
Everything goes to the same Everything comes from and everything returns to
Who really knows whether the of human beings and the of animals sinks down into the earth?
So I saw that there is nothing better than for people to find in their because that is their After all, who can bring them to see what will happen after them?