Fathers

Ecclesiastes 3

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 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 seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What profit has he who works in that in which he labors? I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live. Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him. That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago. God seeks again that which is passed away. Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.” I said in my heart, “As for the sons of men, God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals. For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?” Therefore I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Eastern Fathers

Gregory of Neocaesarea

For this present time is filled with all things that are most contrary to each other— births and deaths, the growth of plants and their uprooting, cures and killings, the building up and the pulling down of houses, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing. At this moment a man gathers of earth's products, and at another casts them away; and at one time he ardently desires the beauty of woman, and at another he hates it. …

A Metaphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

"Everything has its season, and there is a time for everything under the heavens. "He has taught in the previous verses the doubtful and changeable state of humanity; now he wants to show that all things are opposed to each other in the world, and that nothing remains forever of those things, which are under the heavens and beyond time, since the other spiritual substances are contained neither in the heavens nor in time.

Commentary on Ecclesiastes ↗

Bonaventure

All things have their time, etc. Above he treated the vanity of things, showing that there is variability in them by reason of motion: here secondly he wishes to show vanity with respect to the determination and variety in time. And because he shows the mutability and variety of things not for contempt of them insofar as they are works of God, but insofar as they are loved by us: therefore in this part he shows first the variety of times: second he reproves our curiosity, there: What more has man: third he shows the perpetuity of the …

Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 ↗