Ecclesiastes 3, 1-12

There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil?

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.