Ecc 3:11He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.

Ecc 3:12

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good as long as they live;

Ecc 3:13

Ecc 3:13and also that every man should eat and drink and see and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

Ecc 3:14

Ecc 3:14I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor can anything be taken from it, for God does it so that men will fear and worship Him [with awe-filled reverence, knowing that He is God].

Ecc 3:15

Ecc 3:15That which is has already been, and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by [so that history repeats itself].

Ecc 3:16

Moreover, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

Ecc 3:17

Ecc 3:17I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked,” for there is a time [appointed] for every matter and for every deed.

Ecc 3:18

Ecc 3:18I said to myself regarding the sons of men, “God is surely testing them in order for them to see that [by themselves, without God] they are [only] animals.”

Ecc 3:19

Ecc 3:19For the [earthly] fate of the sons of men and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no preeminence or advantage for man [in and of himself] over an animal, for all is vanity.

Ecc 3:20

Ecc 3:20All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

Ecc 3:21

Ecc 3:21Who knows if the spirit of man ascends upward and the spirit of the animal descends downward to the earth?

Ecc 3:22

Ecc 3:22So I have seen that there is nothing better than that a man should be happy in his own works and activities, for that is his portion (share). For who will bring him [back] to see what will happen after he is gone?

See the AMP Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

AMP Footnotes

(3:7)

This may be a reference to the practice of tearing one’s clothes as a sign of mourning which began early among the Hebrews. Cf Gen 37:29. There are many references to this in the Old Testament. Solomon was no doubt familiar with this practice as his own father engaged in it with his contemporaries. Cf 2 Sam 3:31.

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