For everything there is a season and there is a time for everything under the sky:

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

For all there is a season, and there is a time for every thing under the heavens.

A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the planted.

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

There is a time to be born [(nine months)] and a time to die [(the allotted years for each generation)]. A time to plant [(nation and kingdom)] and a time to uproot what has been planted.

A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to wreck and a time to build.

a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to kill [(an entire people, e.g., Isaiah 14:30)], and a time to heal [that "killing," viz. Ibid. 19:22]. A time to breach [(the wall of the city, viz. Nechemiah 1:3)], and a time to build [viz. Amos 9:11].

A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.

a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cry, [(on the ninth of Av)], and a time to laugh, [(in time to come, viz. Psalms 126:2)]. A time to mourn, [(in the days of mourning)], and a time to dance [(with grooms and brides)].

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to cast out "stones" [(the youths of Israel, cast out at the ruin of the Temple, viz. Eichah 4:1)] and a time to gather in "stones" [(from the exile, viz. Zechariah 9:16)]. A time to embrace [(viz. Jeremiah 13:11)], and a time to refrain from embracing [(viz. Isaiah 6:12)].

A time to seek and a time to abandon; a time to preserve, and a time to discard.

a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to seek [(the outcasts of Israel, viz. Ezekiel 34:16)], and a time to cause [them] to go lost, [(in exile, viz. Leviticus 26:38)]. A time to keep [(i.e., to protect you, when you do His will, viz. Numbers 6:24)], and a time to cast away, viz. Deuteronomy 29:27)].

A time to rip apart and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak.

a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to rend [(the kingdom of the house of David, viz. I Kings 14:8)], and a time to sew [together again, viz. Ezekiel 37:17]. A time to be silent [(and to receive reward for being so, viz. Leviticus 10:3)], and a time to speak [(viz. Exodus 15:1, Judges 51, Hosea 14:3)].

A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

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

A time to love [viz. Deuteronomy 7:13], and a time to hate [viz. Hosea 9:15], a time for war and a time for peace.

What benefit [then] has the worker from his labor?

What profit has the worker from his toil?

What profit is there to the doer [of evil] in [all] that he toils? [(His time, too, will come, and all will go lost.)]

I have seen the matter which God has given to man to be afflicted with.

I have seen the task, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

I have seen the [mode of] conduct which G-d has given to the sons of men whereby to conduct themselves.

He has made everything beautiful in its time; even [a sense of] the external world, He has set in their heart, yet man cannot discover the work that God has done from [the] beginning to the end.

He has made every thing beautiful in his time: also he has set the mystery of the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work which God has made from the beginning to the end.

He made everything beautiful in its time. [(A time of good is "beautiful" [i.e., appropriate] for the rewarding of a good deed, and a time of evil, for the punishment of an evil deed.)] Also, the [wisdom of the] world [lit., of what is hidden], [which] He placed in their heart, [He did not place there in its entirety, in the heart of each one], so that a man not find out the act that G-d had wrought [i.e., projected] from beginning to end. [(So that, not knowing the day of his death, man plans and builds and the world is perpetuated.)]

I know there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and perform good deeds in his life.

I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good in his life:

I know [now, since the time of death is hidden,] that there is nothing better for them than for (each one) to rejoice [in his lot] and to do what is good [in the eyes of the L-rd] in his lifetime.

And also, when every man eats and drinks, and enjoys the good of all his labors, that is the gift of God.

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

And also, every man who eats and drinks and sees good [(Torah and mitzvoth)] in all of his toil, this is a gift of G-d.

I know that whatever God does will endure forever, nothing can be added to it, nor anything be diminished from it; God has so made it that man should fear before Him.

I know that, whatever God does, it shall be forever: nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it: and God does it, so that men should fear before him.

I know that everything made by G-d [(in the creation)] is fit to endure [as is] forever, not to be added to or diminished; and [on those rare occasions when] G-d wrought [changes in the natural order, it was] so that men fear Him. [(This, then — doing mitzvoth and fearing G-d — should be the end of man.)]

That which already was, exists now, and that which is to be, has already been; and God seeks the pursued.

That which is, already has been; and that which is to be has already been; and only God can find the fleeting moment.

What happened [(before us)] has already taken place [and is known to us], and what is to come will be [consistent with] what has already been, [(the L-rd not changing in His tributes)] — G-d seeks out [the cause of] the pursued one [(to punish the pursuer. What profit, then, can accrue to him who toils for wrongful gain?)]

And, furthermore, I have seen under the sun: in the place of justice there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there was wickedness.

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

And I have further seen [(by the Holy Spirit)] that in the place of justice [(the chamber of hewn stone in Jerusalem, viz. Isaiah 1:21, the seat of Sanhedrin)], there will wickedness be adjudicated [viz. Michah 3:11], and in the place of righteousness [(the middle gate, where halachoth were formulated)], there will [the counsels of] wickedness [be seated].

I said to myself: “The righteous and the wicked God will judge; for there is a time for every desire, and for every deed—there.”

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.

[Therefore,] I say in my heart [(that all of these injustices will be redressed, for)] G-d will judge the righteous one and the wicked one. For there is a time for all things [(even for retribution)], and there [i.e., at that time, G-d will judge a man] for every deed [that he has done.]

I said to myself: “Concerning the state of man, God has set them apart that they may see that they themselves are as beast.”

I said in my heart, after the speech of the sons of men, that God has chosen them out, but only to see that they themselves are but as beasts;

I said in my heart [(when I saw all this)] that G-d [has chosen] to apprise all those who assert lordship [over those beneath them that their power is naught)], and to show [them] that they [(and all potentates)] are as beasts unto themselves.

For the fate of men and the fate of the beasts—the same fate befalls both, as one dies, so dies the other, the same breath is in all of them; and the superiority of man over beast is nil for all is vanity.

that that which befalls the sons of men befalls the beasts; even one thing befalls them both: as the one dies, so the other dies; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man has no preeminence over a beast: for all is vanity.

For what befalls the sons of men and what befalls the beasts — one thing befalls them [both]! As one dies, so the other dies, and there is one spirit to all. And the superiority of man over beast [(in his lifetime)] is naught [i.e., unapparent, at his death], for all is vanity [(everything returning to dust)].

All go to one place; all come from the dust, and all return to the dust.

All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all return to dust.

All goes to one place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

Who knows the spirit of man, whether it rises upwards and the spirit of the beast whether it descends to the earth.”

Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upwards, and the spirit of the beast goes downwards to the earth?

Who knows [i.e., Who impresses upon himself that it is the spirit of man that ascends on high [for judgment] and the spirit of the beast that descends below, to the earth [(free of all accounting, and that he should not conduct himself as a beast, which gives no thought to its acts)]?

I perceived, therefore, that there is nothing better than man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot; for who will bring him to see what will be after him.

So I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his work; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

And I have seen [(through all these things)] that there is no good [(for a man)] than for a man to rejoice in his acts [(i.e., in the toil of his hands, and not to aspire to luxuries and superfluities)]; for it [(the toil of his hands)] is his portion [(given him by Heaven to rejoice in)]. For [(after his death)], who will bring him to see what will transpire [with his children] after him? [i.e., whether they will or will not prosper as he did with the wealth that he heaped up for them]