Ecclesiastes 3:6

Geneva Bible

A time to seeke, and a time to lose: a time to keepe, 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;

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.

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 To all things there is an appointed time, and a time to euery purpose vnder the heauen. ² A time to bee borne, and a time to die: a time to plant, and a time to plucke vp that which is planted. ³ A time to slay, and a time to heale: a time to breake downe, and a time to builde. ⁴ A time to weepe, and a time to laugh: a time to mourne, and a time to dance. ⁵ A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones: a time to embrace, and a time to be farre from embracing. ⁶ A time to seeke, and a time to lose: a time to keepe, and a time to cast away. ⁷ A time to rent, and a time to sowe: a time to keepe silence, and a time to speake. ⁸ A time to loue, and a time to hate: a time of warre, and a time of peace. ⁹ What profite hath hee that worketh of the thing wherein he trauaileth? ¹⁰ I haue seene the trauaile that God hath giuen to ye sonnes of men to humble them thereby.

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
Nowe the serpent was more subtill then any beast of the fielde, which the Lord God had made: and he said to the woman, Yea, hath God in deede said, Ye shall not eate of euery tree of the garden?

Genesis 3:2
And the woman said vnto the serpent, We eate of the fruite of the trees of the garden,

Genesis 3:12
Then the man saide, The woman which thou gauest to be with me, she gaue me of the tree, and I did eate.

Genesis 3:14
Then the Lord God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed aboue all cattell, and aboue euery beast of the fielde: vpon thy belly shalt thou goe, and dust shalt thou eate all the dayes of thy life.

Genesis 3:15
I wil also put enimitie betweene thee and the woman, and betweene thy seede & her seede. He shall breake thine head, and thou shalt bruise his heele.

Genesis 3:17
Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voyce of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eate of it) cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorowe shalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy life.

Genesis 3:19
In the sweate of thy face shalt thou eate bread, till thou returne to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou returne.

Genesis 6:2
Then the sonnes of God sawe the daughters of men that they were faire, & they tooke them wiues of all that they liked.

Genesis 39:7
Nowe therefore after these thinges, his masters wife cast her eyes vpon Ioseph, and saide, Lye with me.

Joshua 7:21
I sawe among the spoyle a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundreth shekels of siluer, and a wedge of golde of fiftie shekels weight, and I coueted them, and tooke them: and behold, they lye hid in the earth in the mids of my tent, and the siluer vnder it.

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!