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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 CEV</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="../">CEV</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">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Everything Has Its Time</h3><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_1"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.1" class="v21_3_1">1</span>Everything on earth</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_1">has its own time</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_1">and its own season.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_2"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.2" class="v21_3_2">2</span>There is a time</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_2">for birth and death,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_2">planting and reaping,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_3"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.3" class="v21_3_3">3</span>for killing and healing,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_3">destroying and building,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_4"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.4" class="v21_3_4">4</span>for crying and laughing,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_4">weeping and dancing,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_5"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.5" class="v21_3_5">5</span>for throwing stones</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_5">and gathering stones,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_5">embracing and parting.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_6"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.6" class="v21_3_6">6</span>There is a time</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_6">for finding and losing,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_6">keeping and giving,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_7"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.7" class="v21_3_7">7</span>for tearing and sewing,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_7">listening and speaking.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_8"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.8" class="v21_3_8">8</span>There is also a time</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_8">for love and hate,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_8">for war and peace.</span></p><h3 class="s1">What God Has Given Us To Do</h3><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 by all our hard work? </span><span class="v21_3_10"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.10" class="v21_3_10">10</span>I have seen what difficult things God demands of us. </span><span class="v21_3_11"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.11" class="v21_3_11">11</span>God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done, and he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future. </span><span class="v21_3_12"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.12" class="v21_3_12">12</span>I know the best thing we can do is to always enjoy life, </span><span class="v21_3_13"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.13" class="v21_3_13">13</span>because God's gift to us is the happiness we get from our food and drink and from the work we do. </span><span class="v21_3_14"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.14" class="v21_3_14">14</span>Everything God has done will last forever; nothing he does can ever be changed. God has done all this, so that we will worship him.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_15"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.15" class="v21_3_15">15</span>Everything that happens</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_15">has happened before,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_15">and all that will be</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_15">has already been—</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_3_15">God does everything</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_3_15">over and over again.<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.3.15!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><h3 class="s1">The Future Is Known Only to God</h3><p class="par"><span class="v21_3_16"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.16" class="v21_3_16">16</span>Everywhere on earth I saw violence and injustice instead of fairness and justice. </span><span class="v21_3_17"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.17" class="v21_3_17">17</span>So I told myself that God has set a time and a place for everything. He will judge everyone, both the wicked and the good. </span><span class="v21_3_18"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.18" class="v21_3_18">18</span>I know God is testing us to show us that we are merely animals. </span><span class="v21_3_19"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.19" class="v21_3_19">19</span>Like animals we breathe and die, and we are no better off than they are. It just doesn't make sense. </span><span class="v21_3_20"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.20" class="v21_3_20">20</span>All living creatures go to the same place. We are made from earth, and we return to earth. </span><span class="v21_3_21"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.21" class="v21_3_21">21</span>Who really knows if our spirits go up and the spirits of animals go down into the earth? </span><span class="v21_3_22"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.3.22" class="v21_3_22">22</span>We were meant to enjoy our work, and that's the best thing we can do. We can never know the future.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">3.15 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">God does … again: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Bible text from the Contemporary English Version 2nd Edition (CEV®) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (<a href="http://www.americanbible.org">www.americanbible.org</a>). 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