Add parallel Print Page Options

There is a right time and a right way for everything,
    yet people often have many troubles.
They do not know what the future holds,
    and no one can tell them what will happen.
No one can control the wind
    or stop his own death.
No soldier is released in times of war,
    and evil does not set free those who do evil.

Read full chapter

For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,(A)
    though a person may be weighed down by misery.

Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come?
As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
    so[a] no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
    so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so