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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Ecclesiastes 3 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ecclesiastes/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ecclesiastes/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Ecclesiastes 3</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ecclesiastes/2.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 2">◄</a> Ecclesiastes 3 <a href="../ecclesiastes/4.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">A Time for Everything</h3><p class="par"><span class="v21_3_1"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.1" class="v21_3_1">1</span>Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_2"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.2" class="v21_3_2">2</span>He sets the time for birth and the time for death,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_2">the time for planting and the time for pulling up,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_3"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.3" class="v21_3_3">3</span>the time for killing and the time for healing,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_3">the time for tearing down and the time for building.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_4"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.4" class="v21_3_4">4</span>He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_4">the time for mourning and the time for dancing,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_5"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.5" class="v21_3_5">5</span>the time for making love and the time for not making love,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_5">the time for kissing and the time for not kissing.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_6"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.6" class="v21_3_6">6</span>He sets the time for finding and the time for losing,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_6">the time for saving and the time for throwing away,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_7"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.7" class="v21_3_7">7</span>the time for tearing and the time for mending,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_7">the time for silence and the time for talk.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_8"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.8" class="v21_3_8">8</span>He sets the time for love and the time for hate,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_8">the time for war and the time for peace.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v21_3_9"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.9" class="v21_3_9">9</span>What do we gain from all our work? </span><span class="v21_3_10"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.10" class="v21_3_10">10</span>I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us. </span><span class="v21_3_11"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.11" class="v21_3_11">11</span>He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does. </span><span class="v21_3_12"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.12" class="v21_3_12">12</span>So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive. </span><span class="v21_3_13"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.13" class="v21_3_13">13</span>All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v21_3_14"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.14" class="v21_3_14">14</span>I know that everything God does will last forever. You can't add anything to it or take anything away from it. And one thing God does is to make us stand in awe of him. </span><span class="v21_3_15"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.15" class="v21_3_15">15</span>Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God makes the same thing happen again and again.</span></p><h3 class="s">Injustice in the World</h3><p class="par"><span class="v21_3_16"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.16" class="v21_3_16">16</span>In addition, I have also noticed that in this world you find wickedness where justice and right ought to be. </span><span class="v21_3_17"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.17" class="v21_3_17">17</span>I told myself, “God is going to judge the righteous and the evil alike, because every thing, every action, will happen at its own set time.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.3.17!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v21_3_18"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.18" class="v21_3_18">18</span>I decided that God is testing us, to show us that we are no better than animals. </span><span class="v21_3_19"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.19" class="v21_3_19">19</span>After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either. </span><span class="v21_3_20"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.20" class="v21_3_20">20</span>They are both going to the same place—the dust. They both came from it; they will both go back to it. </span><span class="v21_3_21"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.21" class="v21_3_21">21</span>How can anyone be sure that the human spirit goes upward while an animal's spirit goes down into the ground? </span><span class="v21_3_22"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.22" class="v21_3_22">22</span>So I realized then that the best thing we can do is enjoy what we have worked for. There is nothing else we can do.<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.3.22!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> There is no way for us to know what will happen after we die.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.17: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Probable text </char><char style="fq" closed="false">its own set time; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew </char><char style="fq" closed="false">its own set time there.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.22: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">what we have … do; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">our work, because we are going to have to do it anyway.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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