Omnia tempus habent, et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub cælo.

All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.

Everything must be done by turns; no activity, here beneath the heavens, but has its allotted time for beginning and coming to an end.

Tempus nascendi, et tempus moriendi; tempus plantandi, et tempus evellendi quod plantatum est.

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

Men are born only to die, plant trees only to displant them.

Tempus occidendi, et tempus sanandi; tempus destruendi, et tempus ædificandi.

A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build.

Now we take life, now we save it; now we are destroying, now building.

Tempus flendi, et tempus ridendi; tempus plangendi, et tempus saltandi.

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

Weep first, then laugh, mourn we and dance;

Tempus spargendi lapides, et tempus colligendi, tempus amplexandi, et tempus longe fieri ab amplexibus.

A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

the stones we have scattered we must bring together anew; court we first and then shun the embrace.

Tempus acquirendi, et tempus perdendi; tempus custodiendi, et tempus abjiciendi.

A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.

To-day’s gain, tomorrow’s loss; what once we treasured, soon thrown away;

Tempus scindendi, et tempus consuendi; tempus tacendi, et tempus loquendi.

A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

the garment rent, the garment mended; silence kept, and silence ended;

Tempus dilectionis, et tempus odii; tempus belli, et tempus pacis.

A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.

love alternating with hatred, war with peace.

Quid habet amplius homo de labore suo?

What hath man more of his labour?

For all this toiling of his, how is man the richer?

Vidi afflictionem quam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut distendantur in ea.

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

Pitiable indeed I found it, this task God has given to mankind;

Cuncta fecit bona in tempore suo, et mundum tradidit disputationi eorum, ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus est Deus ab initio usque ad finem.

He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end.

and he, meanwhile, has made the world, in all its seasonable beauty, and given us the contemplation of it, yet of his own dealings with us, first and last, never should man gain comprehension.

Et cognovi quod non esset melius nisi lætari, et facere bene in vita sua;

And I have known that there was no better thing than to rejoice, and to do well in this life.

To enjoy his life, to make the best of it, beyond doubt this is man’s highest employment;

omnis enim homo qui comedit et bibit, et videt bonum de labore suo, hoc donum Dei est.

For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his labour, this is the gift of God.

that gift at least God has granted him, to eat and drink and see his toil rewarded.

Didici quod omnia opera quæ fecit Deus perseverent in perpetuum; non possumus eis quidquam addere, nec auferre, quæ fecit Deus ut timeatur.

I have learned that all the works which God hath made, continue for ever: we cannot add any thing, nor take away from those things which God hath made that he may be feared.

But be sure all God has made will remain for ever as he made it; there is no adding to it, no taking away from it; so he will command our reverence.

Quod factum est, ipsum permanet; quæ futura sunt jam fuerunt, et Deus instaurat quod abiit.

That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past.

Nothing that has been, but lasts on still; nothing that will be, but has been already; he is ever repeating the history of the past.

Vidi sub sole in loco judicii impietatem, et in loco justitiæ iniquitatem:

I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity.

I marked, too, how wrong was done instead of right, injustice instead of justice, there under the sun’s eye;

et dixi in corde meo: Justum et impium judicabit Deus, et tempus omnis rei tunc erit.

And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.

and I told myself that God would give judgement one day between the just and the sinners, and all things would reach their appointed end then.

Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum, ut probaret eos Deus, et ostenderet similes esse bestiis.

I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.

I told myself that God’s purpose with the sons of men was to test them …… And that they might see they were only like the beasts …

Idcirco unus interitus est hominis et jumentorum, et æqua utriusque conditio. Sicut moritur homo, sic et illa moriuntur. Similiter spirant omnia, et nihil habet homo jumento amplius: cuncta subjacent vanitati,

Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things are subject to vanity.

After all, man comes to the same ending as the beasts; there is nothing to choose between his lot and theirs; both alike are doomed to die. They have but one principle of life; what has man that the beasts have not? Frustration everywhere;

et omnia pergunt ad unum locum. De terra facta sunt, et in terram pariter revertuntur.

And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they return together.

we are all making for the same goal; of earth we were made, and to earth we must return.

Quis novit si spiritus filiorum Adam ascendat sursum, et si spiritus jumentorum descendat deorsum?

Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?

Who has a right to tell us that the spirit of man mounts upwards, and the spirit of a beast sinks down to the depth?

Et deprehendi nihil esse melius quam lætari hominem in opere suo, et hanc esse partem illius. Quis enim eum adducet ut post se futura cognoscat?

And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice in his work, and that this is his portion. For who shall bring him to know the things that shall be after him?

So I became aware that it is best for man to busy himself here to his own content; this and nothing else is his allotted portion; who can show him what the future will bring?