| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: | 1For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. |
| 2a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, | 2A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. |
| 3a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build, | 3A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. |
| 4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, | 4A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. |
| 5a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, | 5A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. |
| 6a time to search and a time to count as lost, a time to keep and a time to discard, | 6A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. |
| 7a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, | 7A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. |
| 8a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. | 8A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. |
| 9What does the worker gain from his toil? | 9What do people really get for all their hard work? |
| 10I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them. | 10I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. |
| 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end. | 11Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. |
| 12I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live, | 12So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. |
| 13and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God. | 13And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. |
| 14I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him. | 14And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. |
| 15What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed. | 15What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again. The Injustices of Life |
| 16Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. | 16I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! |
| 17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.” | 17I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.” |
| 18I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.” | 18I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. |
| 19For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile. | 19For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! |
| 20All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust. | 20Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. |
| 21Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth? | 21For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth? |
| 22I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him? | 22So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die. |
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