Ecclesiastes 3:8

Easy-to-Read Version

There is a time to love and a time to hate. There is a time for war and a time for peace.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
a time to love and a time to hate;a time for war and a time for peace.

Hebrew Names Version
A time to love, And a time to hate; A time for war, And a time for shalom.

King James Version
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

English Standard Version
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

New American Standard Bible
A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.

New Century Version
There is a time to love and a time to hate. There is a time for war and a time for peace.

Amplified Bible
A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.

World English Bible
A time to love, And a time to hate; A time for war, And a time for peace.

Geneva Bible (1587)
A time to loue, and a time to hate: a time of warre, and a time of peace.

Legacy Standard Bible
A time to love and a time to hate;A time for war and a time for peace.

Berean Standard Bible
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Contemporary English Version
There is also a time for love and hate, for war and peace.

Complete Jewish Bible
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Darby Translation
A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace.

George Lamsa Translation
A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

Good News Translation
He sets the time for love and the time for hate, the time for war and the time for peace.

Lexham English Bible
a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

Literal Translation
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A tyme to loue, & a tyme to hate: A tyme of warre, and a tyme of peace.

American Standard Version
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Bible in Basic English
A time for love and a time for hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

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

King James Version (1611)
A time to loue, and a time to hate: a time of warre, and a time of peace.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
A tyme to loue, and a tyme to hate: A tyme of warre, and a tyme of peace.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

English Revised Version
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Tyme of loue, and tyme of hatrede; tyme of batel, and tyme of pees.

Update Bible Version
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Webster's Bible Translation
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

New English Translation
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

New King James Version
A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.

New Living Translation
A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.

New Life Bible
There is a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

New Revised Standard
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A time to love and a time to hate, - A time of war, and a time of peace.

Douay-Rheims Bible
A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.

Revised Standard Version
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Young's Literal Translation
A time to love, And a time to hate. A time of war, And a time of peace.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.

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 love: Ezekiel 16:8, Psalms 139:21, Ephesians 3:19, Ephesians 5:25, Ephesians 5:28, Ephesians 5:29, Titus 2:4

a time to hate: 2 Chronicles 19:2, Luke 14:26, Revelation 2:2

a time of war: Genesis 14:14-17, Joshua 8:1-29, Joshua 11:23, 2 Samuel 10:6-19, 1 Kings 5:4, 2 Chronicles 20:1-29, 2 Chronicles 20:30

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 11:1 - after the year

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 3:3
But there is one tree we must not eat from. God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch that tree, or you will die.'"

Genesis 3:9
The Lord God called to the man and said, "Where are you?"

Genesis 3:10
The man said, "I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid. I was naked, so I hid."

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

Genesis 3:21
The Lord God used animal skins and made some clothes for the man and his wife. Then he put the clothes on them.

Genesis 3:22
The Lord God said, "Look, the man has become like us—he knows about good and evil. And now the man might take the fruit from the tree of life. If the man eats that fruit, he will live forever."

Deuteronomy 4:33
You people heard God speaking to you from a fire, and you are still alive. Has that ever happened to anyone else? No!

Deuteronomy 5:25
But if we hear the Lord our God speak to us again, surely we will die! That terrible fire will destroy us. We don't want to die.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A time to love, and a time to hate,.... For one to love his friend, and to hate a man, a sinner, as the Targum; to love a friend while he continues such, and hate him, or less love him, when he proves treacherous and unfaithful; an instance of a change of love into hatred may be seen in the case of Amnon, 2 Samuel 13:15. A time of unregeneracy is a time of loving worldly lusts and sinful pleasures, the company of wicked men, and all carnal delights and recreations; and a time of conversion is a time to hate what was before loved, sin, and the conversion of sinners, the garment spotted with the flesh, the principles and practices, though not the persons, of ungodly men; and even to hate, that is, less love, the dearest friends and relations, in comparison of, or when in competition with, Christ;

a time of war, and a time of peace; for nations to be engaged in war with each other, or to be at peace, which are continually revolving; and there is a time when there will be no more war. In a spiritual sense, the present time, or state of things, is a time of war; the Christian's life is a warfare state, though it will be soon accomplished, in which he is engaging in fighting with spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, and the world: the time to come, or future state, is a time of peace, when saints shall enter into peace, and be no more disturbed by enemies from within or from without. In the Midrash, all the above times and seasons are interpreted of Israel, and applied to them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 3:8. A time to love, - hate, - of war, - of peace. —

"Love turns to hatred; interest or caprice

Dissolves the firmest knot by friendship tied.

O'er rival nations, with revenge inflamed,

Or lust of power, fell Discord shakes awhile

Her baleful torch: now smiling Peace returns.

The above paraphrase on the verses cited contains a general view of the principal occurrences of time, in reference to the human being, from his cradle to his grave, through all the operations of life.