There
is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven:
A time for giving birth,
A time for dying;
A time for planting,
A time for
uprooting what has been planted.
A time for killing,
A time for healing;
A time for knocking down,
A time for building.
A time for tears,
A time for
laughter;
A time for mourning,
A time for dancing.
A time for throwing stones away,
A time for gathering them up;
A time for embracing,
A time to refrain from
embracing.
A time for searching,
A time for losing;
A time for keeping,
A time for
throwing away.
A time for tearing,
A time for sewing;
A time for keeping silent,
A time for speaking.
A time for loving,
A time for hating;
A time for war,
A time for peace
What
does a man gain for the efforts that he makes?
I contemplate the task that
God gives mankind to labour at.
All that he does is apt for its time; but
though he has permitted man
to consider time in its wholeness, man cannot
comprehend the
work of God from beginning to end.
I
know there is no happiness for man except in pleasure and
enjoyment while
he lives. And when man eats and drinks and
finds happiness in his work,
this is a gift from God
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Jerusalem Bible ©1968