Ecclesiastes 3
Ecclesiastes 3 contains the famous poem 'to every thing there is a season' — a meditation on time, life's rhythms, and the God who makes everything beautiful in its time.
The Book of Ecclesiastes · Old Testament · chapter 3 of 12.
Where this chapter sits
Qoheleth, the speaker behind the book whose identity interpreters still debate, has already tested pleasure, labor, and achievement in chapter two and pronounced each one vanity. The rhythmic poem here gives way partway through to a harder observation about injustice in the very place where judgment should be, and about the shared fate of humans and animals, a bleaker turn the opening lines do not prepare a reader for.
Key verses (KJV)
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)
“He hath made every thing beautiful in his time.” — Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV)
What to notice as you read
The paired opposites, a time to X and a time to Y, run fourteen times before the poem breaks off into a question rather than an answer: what profit hath the worker in his labor. Read the famous lines as the setup for that question, not a resolution to it.
Read Ecclesiastes 3 on your iPhone
Read the full text of Ecclesiastes 3 in Quiethaven — choose your translation, read offline, and pick up where you left off. Pair it with a daily verse and a prayer timer.
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Frequently asked questions
Where does Ecclesiastes 3 come in Ecclesiastes?
It is chapter 3 of 12 in Ecclesiastes, a book of Wisdom in the Old Testament. The other widely-read chapters of Ecclesiastes are linked further down this page.
Where can I read Ecclesiastes 3?
Read the full text of Ecclesiastes 3 — and the whole Bible, offline, in your preferred translation — free in the Quiethaven app for iPhone.