Ecclesiastes 3:15-17
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
15 [a](A)What now is has already been; what is to be, already is: God retrieves what has gone by.
The Problem of Retribution. 16 (B)And still under the sun in the judgment place I saw wickedness, and wickedness also in the seat of justice. 17 (C)I said in my heart, both the just and the wicked God will judge, since a time is set for every affair and for every work.[b]
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- 3:15 The verse is difficult. Literally it reads “and God seeks out what was pursued.” It appears to be a variation of the theme in 1:9, “There is nothing new under the sun.”
- 3:17 A time is set…work: another possible reading would see this verse referring to a judgment in or after death: “a time for every affair and for every work there” (that is, in death or in Sheol).
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