Ecclesiastes 3:6

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.

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;

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.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

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 There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time. ² There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. ³ There is a time to kill and a time to heal. There is a time to destroy and a time to build. ⁴ There is a time to cry and a time to laugh. There is a time to be sad and a time to dance with joy. ⁵ There is a time to throw weapons down and a time to pick them up. There is a time to hug someone and a time to stop holding so tightly. ⁶ 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. ⁷ There is a time to tear cloth and a time to sew it. There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. ⁸ There is a time to love and a time to hate. There is a time for war and a time for peace. ⁹ Do people really gain anything from their hard work? ¹⁰ I saw all the hard work God gave us to do.

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
The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake spoke to the woman and said, "Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?"

Genesis 3:2
The woman answered the snake, "No, we can eat fruit from the trees in the garden.

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it."

Genesis 3:14
So the Lord God said to the snake, "You did this very bad thing, so bad things will happen to you. It will be worse for you than for any other animal. You must crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15
I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your children and her children will be enemies. You will bite her child's foot, but he will crush your head."

Genesis 3:17
Then God said to the man, "I commanded you not to eat from that tree. But you listened to your wife and ate from it. So I will curse the ground because of you. You will have to work hard all your life for the food the ground produces.

Genesis 3:19
You will work hard for your food, until your face is covered with sweat. You will work hard until the day you die, and then you will become dust again. I used dust to make you, and when you die, you will become dust again."

Genesis 39:7
After some time, the wife of Joseph's master began to pay special attention to him. One day she said to him, "Sleep with me."

Joshua 7:21
In Jericho, I saw a beautiful coat from Babylonia, about 5 pounds of silver, and about a pound of gold. I wanted these things for myself, so I took them. You will find them buried in the ground under my tent. The silver is under the coat."

2 Samuel 11:2
One evening he got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his house. From there he saw a woman bathing. She was very beautiful,

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!