a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Parallel Translations
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a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
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A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
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A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 3:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Philippians 3:7-8 However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
- Luke 9:24-25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?
- Mark 8:35-37 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Good News will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? For what will a man give in exchange for his life?
- Matthew 16:25-26 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
- 2 Kings 5:26 He said to him, “Didn’t my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and cattle, and male servants and female servants?
- Psalms 112:9 He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.
- Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days.
- Matthew 19:29 Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life.
- Mark 10:28-30 Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all, and have followed you.” Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.
- Hebrews 10:34-35 For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens. Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.
- Acts 27:19 On the third day, they threw out the ship’s tackle with their own hands.
- Genesis 30:30-43 For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?” Laban said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire. So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be considered stolen.” Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.” That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. He set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, and plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink. The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in Laban’s flock. He put his own droves apart, and didn’t put them into Laban’s flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, Jacob laid the rods in front of the eyes of the flock in the watering troughs, that they might conceive among the rods; but when the flock were feeble, he didn’t put them in. So the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
- Genesis 31:18 and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.
- Exodus 12:35-36 The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing. Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. They plundered the Egyptians.
- Deuteronomy 8:17-18 and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is today.
- 2 Kings 7:15 They went after them to the Jordan; and behold, all the path was full of garments and equipment which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. The messengers returned, and told the king.
- Isaiah 2:20 In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,
- Jonah 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.
- Acts 27:38 When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
- 2 Kings 8:9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, “Your son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’ ”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 3:6 A time to get, and a time…
Ecc 3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Ver. 6. A time to get.] Heb., To seek; for men do but seek here, they do not properly get what they cannot long hold. How much better therefore were it to seek God! Cuius inventio est ipsum semper quaerere (as Nyssen hath it here), the finding of whom is always to seek him, and in seeking of whom there is so great reward. {Heb 11:6} "Seek ye me and ye shall live." {Amo 5:4} "Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion." {Amo 5:8} Seek him "in a time when he may be found." {Psa 32:6} "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." {2Co 6:2} Take the present "now," and be serious, and then God scorns to do as heathen idols did - viz., to say to the seed of Jacob, "Seek ye me in vain." {Isa 45:19} How greedy are men of getting gain! {a} Get God, and you get all: Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia. {b}
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And a time to lose.] There is an "uncertainty" in riches; {1Ti 6:17} a "deceitfulness"; {Mar 4:19} a "lie." {Joh 8:44} They were never true to those that trusted them; subject they are to vanity or violence. {Mat 6:19-21} How seldom do gamesters grow rich! Vitrea est fortuna; cum splendot, frangitur. {c} And as they say of the metal they make glass of: it is nearest melting when it shines brightest in the fire; so are many rich men nearest ruin when at greatest lustre, as Haman, Herod, Pythias, &c.
A time to keep.] It is good for a man to keep somewhat by him. Bonus servatius facit bonum bonifacium, according to the Dutch blunt proverb, ‘A good saver makes a good well doer.’ {See Trapp on "Pro 6:8"}
And a time to cast away.] To "cast bread upon the waters," {Ecc 11:1} upon those poor creatures that, pinched with penury, water their plants, feed upon tears. And although bread and other comforts cast upon such may seem cast down the waters, because no hope of recompense, yet thou shalt be "recompensed at the resurrection of the just," saith Christ to such, and blessed in the meanwhile. {Luk 14:14} Temporalia Dei servis impensa non pereunt, sed parturiunt, Alms perisheth not, but is put to use.
{a} Kερδαινοντες ου κοπιωμεν. - Naz.
{b} Augustine.
{c} Mimus.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain A time to lose; when men shall lose their…
A time to lose; when men shall lose their estates, either by God’s providence, or by their own choice.
A time to cast away; when a man shall cast away his goods voluntarily, as in a storm to save his life, as Jon 1:5; Act 27:18,19; or out of love and obedience to God, as Mat 10:37,39; Heb 10:34.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain A time to get, and a time to lose,....…
A time to get, and a time to lose,.... To get substance, as the Targum, and to lose it; wealth and riches, honour and glory, wisdom and knowledge: or, "to seek, and to lose" (i); a time when the sheep of the house of Israel, or God's elect, were lost, and a time to seek them again; which was, lone by Christ in redemption, and by the Spirit of God, in effectual calling;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away; to keep a thing, and to cast it away, into the sea, in the time of a great tempest, as the Targum; as did the mariners in the ship in which Jonah was, and those in which the Apostle Paul was, Jon 1:5; It may be interpreted of keeping riches, and which are sometimes kept too close, and to the harm of the owners of them; and of scattering them among the poor, or casting them upon the waters; see Ecc 5:13.
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(i) "tempus quaerendi", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Piscator, Mercerus, Gejerus, Rambachius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain To life - When men lose their estates, either…
To life - When men lose their estates, either by God's providence, or by their own choice. To cast away - When a man casts away his goods voluntarily, as in a storm, to save his life, or out of love and obedience to God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. A time to get, - to lose,…
Verse 6. A time to get, - to lose, - to keep, - to cast away]
___________________ "Commerce produces wealth,
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Whilst time of gaining lasts; from every point
Blow prosperous gales. Now heaven begins to lower,
And all our hopes are blasted. Prudence bids,
One while, our treasure to reserve, and then
With liberal hand to scatter wide. How oft
In raging storms, the owner wisely casts
Into the deep his precious merchandise,
To save the foundering bark!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Get ... lose - Rather, seek, and a time…
Get ... lose - Rather, seek, and a time to give up for lost.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain time to get--for example, to gain honestly a livelihood…
time to get--for example, to gain honestly a livelihood (Eph 4:23).
lose--When God wills losses to us, then is our time to be content.
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keep--not to give to the idle beggar (Th2 3:10).
cast away--in charity (Pro 11:24); or to part with the dearest object, rather than the soul (Mar 9:43). To be careful is right in its place, but not when it comes between us and Jesus Christ (Luk 10:40-42).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. To keep… to cast away — The reference…
6. To keep… to cast away — The reference in this verse is to the change of our tastes and likings, by which we come to reject what once we sought, either carelessly losing it, or intentionally throwing it away. Koheleth regards this as not coming from mere fancy, but from law.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. A time to get, and a time to…
6. A time to get, and a time to lose] The getting or the losing refer primarily, we can scarcely doubt, to what we call property. There are times when it is better and wiser to risk the loss of all we have rather than to set our minds on acquiring more. Something like this lesson we have in our Lord’s paradox “whosoever will (wills to) save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Mat_16:25). In earthly, as in heavenly, things it is the note of a wise man that he knows when to be content to lose. So the Satirist condemns the folly of those who are content,
“Propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.”
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“And for mere life to lose life’s noblest ends.”
Juven. Sat. viii. 84.
a time to keep, and a time to cast away] The second couplet though closely allied with the foregoing is not identical with it. What is brought before us here is “keeping” as distinct from “getting,” and the voluntarily casting away (2Ki_7:15) what we know we have, as distinct from the loss of a profit more or less contingent. And here too, as life passes on, it presents occasions when now this, now that, is the choice of wisdom. So the sailor, in danger of shipwreck, casts out his cargo, his tackling, the “furniture” of his ship (Act_27:18-19; Act_27:38).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) To lose.—Elsewhere this word means to destroy, but…
(6) To lose.—Elsewhere this word means to destroy, but in the later Hebrew it comes to mean to lose, like the Latin “perdere.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A time to get (seek), and a time to…
A time to get (seek), and a time to lose. The verb abad, in piel, is used in the sense of "to destroy", (Ecc_7:7) and it is only in late Hebrew that it signifies, as here, "to lose." The reference is doubtless to property, and has no connection with the last clause of the preceding verse, as Delitzsch would opine. There is a proper and lawful pursuit of wealth, and there is a wise and prudent submission to its inevitable loss. The loss here is occasioned by events over which the owner has no control, differing from that in the next clause, which is voluntary. The wise man knows when to exert his energy in improving his fortune, and when to hold his hand and take failure without useless struggle. Loss, too, is sometimes gain, as when Christ"s departure in the flesh was the prelude and the occasion of the sending of the Comforter; (Joh_16:7) and there are many things of which we know not the real value till they are beyond our grasp. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. Prudence will make fast what it has won, and will endeavor to preserve it unimpaired. But there are occasions when it is wiser to deprive one"s self of some things in order to secure more important ends, as when sailors throw a cargo, etc., overboard in order to save their ship. (comp. Act_27:18, Act_27:19, Act_27:38) And in higher matters, such as almsgiving, this maxim holds good: "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.... The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself". (Pro_11:24, Pro_11:25) Plumptre refers to Christ"s so-called paradox," Whosoever would (onv a qelh) save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it". (Mat_16:25)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
The writer continues with merisms to describe various aspects of life from one extreme to the other. (See: Merism)
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.