Ecclesiastes 3:6

Brenton's Septuagint

a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
a time to search and a time to count as lost;a time to keep and a time to throw away;

Hebrew Names Version
A time to seek, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to cast away;

King James Version
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

English Standard Version
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

New American Standard Bible
A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away.

New Century Version
There is a time to look for something and a time to stop looking for it. There is a time to keep things and a time to throw things away.

Amplified Bible
A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away.

World English Bible
A time to seek, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to cast away;

Geneva Bible (1587)
A time to seeke, and a time to lose: a time to keepe, and a time to cast away.

Legacy Standard Bible
A time to search and a time to lose;A time to keep and a time to throw away.

Berean Standard Bible
a time to search and a time to count as lost, a time to keep and a time to discard,

Contemporary English Version
There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving,

Complete Jewish Bible
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to discard,

Darby Translation
A time to seek, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Easy-to-Read Version
There is a time to look for something and a time to consider it lost. There is a time to keep things and a time to throw things away.

George Lamsa Translation
A time to lose and a time to seek; a time to tie up and a time to untie;

Good News Translation
He sets the time for finding and the time for losing, the time for saving and the time for throwing away,

Lexham English Bible
a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away;

Literal Translation
a time to seek, and a time to give up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A tyme to wynne, and a tyme to lese: A tyme to spare, and a tyme to spende:

American Standard Version
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Bible in Basic English
A time for search and a time for loss; a time to keep and a time to give away;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
A time to seek, and a time to lose; {S}{S}{N}

King James Version (1611)
A time to get, and a time to lose: a time to keepe, and a time to cast away.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
A tyme to wynne, and a tyme to lose: A tyme to spare, and a tyme to spende.

English Revised Version
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Tyme to wynne, and tyme to leese; tyme to kepe, and tyme to caste awei.

Update Bible Version
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Webster's Bible Translation
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

New English Translation
A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

New King James Version
A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;

New Living Translation
A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.

New Life Bible
There is a time to try to find, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away.

New Revised Standard
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A time to seek, and a time to give up as lost, - A time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Douay-Rheims Bible
A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.

Revised Standard Version
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Young's Literal Translation
A time to seek, And a time to destroy. A time to keep, And a time to cast away.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away.

Contextual Overview

¹ To all things there is a time, and a season for every matter under heaven. ² A time of birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted; ³ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to pull down, and a time to build up; ⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to lament, and a time to dance; ⁵ a time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to abstain from embracing; ⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ⁷ a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak; ⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. ⁹ What advantage has he that works in those things wherein he labours? ¹⁰ I have seen all the trouble, which God has given to the sons of men to be troubled with.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

time to get: or, time to seek, Genesis 30:30-43, Genesis 31:18, Exodus 12:35, Exodus 12:36, Deuteronomy 8:17, Deuteronomy 8:18, 2 Kings 5:26, 2 Kings 8:9, an a time to lose, Matthew 16:25, Matthew 16:26, Matthew 19:29, Mark 8:35-37, Mark 10:28-30, Luke 9:24, Luke 9:25

and a time to cast: Ecclesiastes 11:1, 2 Kings 7:15, Psalms 112:9, Isaiah 2:20, Jonah 1:5, Acts 27:19, Acts 27:38, Philippians 3:7, Philippians 3:8, Hebrews 10:34, Hebrews 10:35

Cross-References

Genesis 3:1
And the two were naked, both Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Genesis 3:2
Now the serpent was the most crafty of all the brutes on the earth, which the Lord God made, and the serpent said to the woman, Wherefore has God said, Eat not of every tree of the garden?

Genesis 3:12
And God said to him, Who told thee that thou wast naked, unless thou hast eaten of the tree concerning which I charged thee of it alone not to eat?

Genesis 3:14
And the Lord God said to the woman, Why hast thou done this? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate.

Genesis 3:15
And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle and all the brutes of the earth, on thy breast and belly thou shalt go, and thou shalt eat earth all the days of thy life.

Genesis 3:17
And to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pains and thy groanings; in pain thou shalt bring forth children, and thy submission shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Genesis 3:19
Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

Genesis 6:2
And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them,

Genesis 39:7
And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and said, Lie with me.

Joshua 7:21
I saw in the spoil an embroidered mantle, and two hundred didrachms of silver, and one golden wedge of fifty didrachms, and I desired them and took them; and, behold, they are hid in my tent, and the silver is hid under them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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, Jonah 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 Ecclesiastes 5:13.

i עת לבקש "tempus quaerendi", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Piscator, Mercerus, Gejerus, Rambachius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Get ... lose - Rather, seek, and a time to give up for lost.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 3:6. A time to get, - to lose, - to keep, - to cast away —

___________________ "Commerce produces wealth,

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!