Ecclesiastes 3:9-4:3

Ecclesiastes 3:9-4:3

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9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

14 I know that whatever God does,

It shall be forever.

Nothing can be added to it,

And nothing taken from it.

God does it, that men should fear before Him.

15 That which is has already been,

And what is to be has already been;

And God requires an account of what is past.

16 Moreover I saw under the sun:

In the place of judgment,

Wickedness was there;

And in the place of righteousness,

Iniquity was there.

17 I said in my heart,

“God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,

For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”

18 I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” 19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth? 22 So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

1 Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun:

And look! The tears of the oppressed,

But they have no comforter—

On the side of their oppressors there is power,

But they have no comforter.

2 Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead,

More than the living who are still alive.

3 Yet, better than both is he who has never existed,

Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ec 3:9-4:3