3:1–22 Review · Next Qoheleth turns to the examination of how time, viewed against the backdrop of eternity, affects human efforts to engage in profitable activities.

3:1–8 · He begins with a highly structured “Catalogue of Times” (Fox, 193), which affirms and illustrates that “there is a time for everything” (3:1–8), certainly the book’s best-known text. The poem begins with an initial summary claim regarding time and every human purpose (Hebrew hepets; 3:1). It is disputed whether this verse is to be taken descriptively (i.e., there is a predetermined time to acknowledge or be passively submitted to) or prescriptively (i.e., there is a proper time for action to seek or for making an appropriate response). This is followed by seven (symbolizing completeness) couplets of paired actions (…