A Time for Everything
1There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9What do workers gain from their toil? 10I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
15Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.3:15 Or God calls back the past
16And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17I said to myself,
“God will bring into judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”
18I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath3:19 Or spirit; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
Kila Jambo Lina Wakati Wake
13:1 Mhu 8:6Kuna wakati kwa ajili ya kila jambo,
nayo majira kwa kila tendo chini ya mbingu:
23:2 Mwa 47:29; Isa 28:24; 38:1wakati wa kuzaliwa na wakati wa kufa,
wakati wa kupanda na wakati wa kungʼoa yaliyopandwa,
33:3 Kum 5:17wakati wa kuua na wakati wa kuponya,
wakati wa kubomoa,
na wakati wa kujenga,
43:4 Kut 15:20; 2Sam 6:16wakati wa kulia na wakati wa kucheka,
wakati wa kuomboleza na wakati wa kucheza,
5wakati wa kutawanya mawe na wakati wa kukusanya mawe,
wakati wa kukumbatia na wakati wa kutokumbatia,
6wakati wa kutafuta na wakati wa kupoteza,
wakati wa kuweka na wakati wa kutupa,
73:7 Amo 5:13; Es 4:14wakati wa kurarua na wakati wa kushona,
wakati wa kunyamaza na wakati wa kuzungumza,
8wakati wa kupenda na wakati wa kuchukia,
wakati wa vita na wakati wa amani.
9Mfanyakazi anapata faida gani kutokana na taabu yake? 103:10 Mhu 1:13Nimeona mzigo Mungu alioweka juu ya wanadamu. 113:11 Kum 32:4; Mhu 8:17; Ay 11:7; 28:23; Rum 11:33Amefanya kila kitu kiwe kizuri kwa wakati wake. Pia ameiweka hiyo milele katika mioyo ya wanadamu, wala hawawezi kutambua kwa kina yale ambayo Mungu amefanya tangu mwanzo hadi mwisho. 12Ninajua kwamba hakuna kitu bora kwa wanadamu kuliko kuwa na furaha na kutenda mema wakati wanapoishi. 133:13 Za 34:12; Kum 12:7, 18; Mhu 2:3, 24; 5:19Tena ni karama ya Mungu kila mtu apate kula na kunywa na kujiburudisha kwa mema katika kazi yake yote. 143:14 Ay 23:15; Yak 1:17; Mhu 5:7; 7:18; 8:12-13Ninajua kwamba kila kitu anachokifanya Mungu kitadumu milele, hakuna kinachoweza kuongezwa au kupunguzwa. Mungu hufanya hivyo ili watu wamche yeye.
153:15 Mhu 6:10; 1:9Chochote kilichopo kilishakuwepo,
na kitakachokuwepo kimekwishakuwepo kabla;
naye Mungu huyaita yale yaliyopita yarudi tena.
16Pia nikaona kitu kingine tena chini ya jua:
Mahali pa kutolea hukumu,
uovu ulikuwepo,
mahali pa kupatia haki,
uovu ulikuwepo.
173:17 Ay 34:11; 19:29; Mt 16:27; Mhu 11:9; 12:14Nikafikiri moyoni mwangu,
“Mungu atawaleta hukumuni
wote wawili wenye haki na waovu,
kwa maana kutakuwako na wakati kwa ajili ya kila jambo,
wakati kwa ajili ya kila tendo.”
183:18 Za 73:22Pia nikafikiri, “Kuhusu wanadamu, Mungu huwajaribu ili wajione kwamba wao ni kama wanyama. 193:19 Mhu 2:14; Za 49:12Hatima ya mwanadamu ni kama ile ya wanyama; wote wana mwisho unaofanana: Jinsi anavyokufa mnyama, ndivyo anavyokufa mwanadamu. Wote wana pumzi inayofanana; mwanadamu hana cha zaidi kuliko mnyama. Kila kitu ni ubatili. 203:20 Mwa 2:7; 3:19-20; Ay 34:10Wote huenda mahali panapofanana; wote hutoka mavumbini, mavumbini wote hurudi. 213:21 Mhu 12:7Ni nani ajuaye kama roho ya mtu huenda juu na roho ya mnyama hushuka chini ardhini?”
223:22 Mhu 2:10, 24; 5:18; Ay 31:2Kwa hiyo nikaona kwamba hakuna kitu kilicho bora zaidi kwa mwanadamu kuliko kuifurahia kazi yake, kwa sababu hilo ndilo fungu lake. Kwa maana ni nani awezaye kumrudisha ili aje kuona kile kitakachotendeka baada yake?
