ECCLESIASTES
OR
THE PREACHER

Ecclesiastes 3

1By the necessary change of times vanity is added to human travail. 11There is a fitness in God's works, which man cannot thoroughly find out. 12, 22Man's object is to enjoy present good, so far as God alloweth, whose counsels are immutable. 16From the abuses of human judgments God's judgment is inferred. 18Men and beasts are visibly alike in their mortal bodies; 21their spirits, which go different ways, are unknown.


1TO1 every thing there is a season, and a time to every 2purpose under the heaven:

1 That is, all affairs and transactions of this world are changeable and subject to various changes and alterations over and again, which God alone governs, and which cannot be affected earlier or later by any person. By this mutability it appears plainly that true happiness is not to be sought in this wavering and transitory life.

2 Hebr. pleasure, or, will, desire, namely, of men. See Psalm 27 on verse 12.

2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3A time to 3kill, and a time to 4heal; a time to 5break down, and a time to build up;

3 Whether it is done by the will or appointment of God, Exod. 21:13, or by the charge and command of the authorities. Other, to hurt or wound.

4 Namely, him who is hurt or wounded.

5 Hebr. to break in, or, to tear or rent.

4A time to weep, and a time 6to laugh; a time 7to mourn, and a time 8to dance;

6 See Eccl. 2:2.

7 Or, to lament, or, to make great moan.

8 Or, to skip, namely, for joy and for gladness. See 1 Chron. 15:29; Acts 3:8.

5A time 9to cast away stones, and a 10time to gather stones together; a time to embrace,a and a time to refrain from embracing;

9 Namely, when one clears a garden or field, or tears down a house.

10 Namely, when one intends to build a house or some other structure.

a 1 Cor. 7:5.

6A time 11to get, and a time 12to lose; a time to keep, and a time 13to cast away;

11 To provide or to keep. Other, to seek, namely, wisdom, or wealth, or something that a man has lost. Understand herewith: and to find, as Isa. 65:1.

12 Other, to let perish, namely, at the time when a man would thereby come in danger of soul or of life.

13 As for example, when a man is in danger of shipwreck at sea, Jonah 1:5; Acts 27:18, 19.

7A time 14to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

14 Namely, garments, as was very usual and customary among the Jews to show their sorrow of heart.

8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

915What profitb hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?16

15 The sense is: When the hour and time is not come, let a man do what he will; he shall not be able to effect anything.

b Eccl. 1:3.

16 Understand herewith: none.

10I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

1117He hath made every thing 18beautiful in his time: also he hath set 19the world 20in their heart, so that no man 21can find out the work that God maketh 22from the beginning to the end.

17 Namely, God; Who makes all things as such that it is beautiful and excellent, and everything comes to pass in due time and season, though with men great changes and alterations do happen.

18 Or, fair, comely, decent, well made.

19 That is, a natural inclination to search out the ages and times and whatsoever is done therein. Other, the eternity, that is, an inclination tending to the searching into those things that are eternal and infinite; or an inclination tending to eternity.

20 Namely, in the heart of men.

21 Namely, perfectly and by his own wits and understanding.

22 Hebr. from the head to the end.

12I know that there is no good 23in them, but for a man to rejoice, and 24to do good in his life.

23 Namely, men. Or, in them, namely, things.

24 That is, to live devoutly and godly. See Eccl. 12:13.

13And also that every man should 25eat and drink, and 26enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

25 Namely, with delight and joy.

26 Hebr. see.

14I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall 27be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

27 That is, exist; that is, it shall always come to pass as He has decreed and ordained, for the decree of God is unchangeable. If the creature were able to make the least change in what God intends to do, if the creature were able to diminish or increase the blessing, to ease or to aggravate the cross, then men would honor and stand in awe of the creature and not of the Creator. Therefore God has so provided all that He intends to bring upon us, or that He intends to remove and keep off from us, whether it be good or evil, as that the creature is not able to make the least change or alteration therein, to the end that we would only fear before the face of the Creator, and in all humility depend entirely and solely upon His Providence.

15That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and 28God requireth that which is past.

28 Understand herewith: and He brings again to light that which is passed or gone, renewing by His almighty power and all-wise Providence the sundry kinds of beasts and other creatures; He causes the spring, summer, autumn and winter, each to return again in their season; likewise the flowers, herbs and fruits both of the trees and of the earth; when men and beasts die and perish, then He causes others to be born and to grow up in their stead, etc.

16¶And moreover I 29saw under the sun 30the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

29 Namely, another vanity.

30 That is, in the court of justice or in the place of judicature, where justice and judgment are to be pleaded and maintained, there the clean contrary was practiced.

17I said in mine heart, God shall judge 31the righteous and the wicked: 32for there is a time 33there for every purpose and for every work.

31 That is, the innocent and the guilty. The meaning is: When I beheld the iniquity and injustice that reigned among men in the pronouncement of sentence or judgment, then I comforted myself with this, that I called to mind that God the Supreme and most righteous Judge shall and will in His own due time judge all men righteously, rendering to every man according to his works.

32 Other, but, as if he said: The wicked they have a time here, but God shall also have a time there.

33 Namely, where God shall set up His judgment seat at the last day, where all human deeds and actions shall be judged.

18I said in mine heart 34concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God 35might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

34 That is, concerning or appertaining to the being, the occasion, or condition, the action and behavior of men, namely, when I thoroughly consider and search into it.

35 Or, shall give them clarity. He wants to say: Forasmuch as the vanities of men are so many and so great, and such a multitude and variety of anxieties, into which they plunge themselves so deeply and with such delight and complacency, as if they would abide here forever, therefore I have thought with myself that God will make it out clear unto them and will give them to see clearly and with clarity and to apprehend what they are in themselves and according to the nature and condition of this lower world, namely, as the beasts or brute creatures, Psalm 49:12, 20.

19For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even 36one thing befalleth them: as 37the one dieth, so dieth 38the other; yea, 39they have all 40one breath; so that a man hath 41no preeminence above a beast: for 42all is vanity.

36 Namely, when we look on nothing else, than on that which outwardly befalls both men and beasts. For, men draw breath, they eat, drink, sleep; they are also subject to sicknesses and pains, yea, also finally to death itself, no different than the beasts. But otherwise the excellence of men above beasts is exceeding great.

37 Namely, beast.

38 Namely, man.

39 That is, they both, namely, as well men as beasts.

40 Understand hereby breath the spirit of life.

41 Namely, as much as may be perceived in their outward condition, or as much as concerns their death.

42 Namely, as well men as beasts. Other, it is all vanity.

20All go 43unto one place; all 44arec of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

43 Namely, into the earth. This is to be understood concerning the body, as may appear by what follows. Hebr. every one or all goeth, etc.

44 See Gen. 1:24; 2:7.

c Gen. 3:19.

21Who knoweth 45the spirit of man that 46goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that 47goeth downward to the earth?

45 That is to say in this place: the soul, as Luke 23:46. The meaning is: Who can perceive or know this by the common outward incidental occurrences of them who die?

46 And consequently remains in being, after it is departed out of the body. See hereof further Eccl. 12:7. There Solomon says in plain terms that the soul returns unto God Who gave it. So that one cannot impute unto Solomon as if he taught here that the soul was mortal.

47 Since it vanishes to nothing, having no more a being, after it is gone out of the body.

22Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice 48in his own works; for 49that is his portion: for 50who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

48 That is, in those things which he earns by his labor.

49 That is, his portion which he shall enjoy, Eccl. 2:24; 3:12; 5:18. As if he said: A man, when he dies, shall carry nothing away with him; neither shall he know after he is dead what is done here upon earth. Therefore it is best that he does not vex and torment himself with unprofitable care, how things shall go after his decease, who shall be the heir, or how they shall dispose of his goods; or how they shall demean themselves when he is gone, but that he with a quiet and merry heart (in the fear of God) use and enjoy those things which he possesses, for he shall have nothing else of the same. See Eccl. 2:3.

50 As if he said: No one.