Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, July 24th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Ecclesiastes 3:3

There is a time to kill and a time to heal. There is a time to destroy and a time to build.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- The Topic Concordance - Time;   War/weapons;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Time;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Garden;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, Book of;   Israel, History of;   Poetry;   Time, Meaning of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ecclesiastes;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Ass;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Heal;   Providence;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Temurah, Midrash;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for September 27;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
a time to kill and a time to heal;a time to tear down and a time to build;
Hebrew Names Version
A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;
King James Version
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
English Standard Version
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
New American Standard Bible
A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up.
Amplified Bible
A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up.
World English Bible
A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;
Geneva Bible (1587)
A time to slay, and a time to heale: a time to breake downe, and a time to builde.
Legacy Standard Bible
A time to kill and a time to heal;A time to tear down and a time to build up.
Berean Standard Bible
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build,
Contemporary English Version
for killing and healing, destroying and building,
Complete Jewish Bible
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
Darby Translation
A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up;
Easy-to-Read Version
There is a time to kill and a time to heal. There is a time to destroy and a time to build.
George Lamsa Translation
A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up;
Good News Translation
the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down and the time for building.
Lexham English Bible
a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up;
Literal Translation
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build up;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A tyme to slaye, and a tyme to make whole: A tyme to breake downe, and a tyme to buylde vp:
American Standard Version
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Bible in Basic English
A time to put to death and a time to make well; a time for pulling down and a time for building up;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
A time to kill, and a time to heal; {S}{S}{N}
King James Version (1611)
A time to kill, and a time to heale: a time to breake downe, and a time to build vp.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A tyme to slay, and a tyme to make whole: a tyme to breake downe, and a tyme to builde vp.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to pull down, and a time to build up;
English Revised Version
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Tyme to sle, and tyme to make hool; tyme to distrie, and tyme to bilde.
Update Bible Version
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Webster's Bible Translation
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
New English Translation
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
New King James Version
A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;
New Living Translation
A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.
New Life Bible
There is a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.
New Revised Standard
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A time to kill, and a time to heal, - A time to break down, and a time to build up;
Douay-Rheims Bible
A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build.
Revised Standard Version
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Young's Literal Translation
A time to slay, And a time to heal, A time to break down, And a time to build up.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up.

Contextual Overview

1 There is a time for everything, and everything on earth has its special season. 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. 5 There is a time to throw away stones and a time to gather them. There is a time to hug and a time not to hug. 6 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. 7 There is a time to tear apart and a time to sew together. 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 work? 10 I saw the hard work God has given people to do.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

time to kill: Deuteronomy 32:39, 1 Samuel 2:6, 1 Samuel 2:25, Hosea 6:1, Hosea 6:2

a time to heal: Numbers 26:6-9, Isaiah 38:5-20, Jeremiah 33:6, Luke 9:54-56, Acts 5:15, Acts 5:16

a time to break: Isaiah 5:5, Isaiah 5:6, Isaiah 44:26, Jeremiah 31:28, Jeremiah 45:4, Ezekiel 13:14, Daniel 9:25-27, Zechariah 1:12

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "You gave this woman to me and she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it."
Genesis 3:13
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "How could you have done such a thing?" She answered, "The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit."
Genesis 3:16
Then God said to the woman, "I will cause you to have much trouble when you are pregnant, and when you give birth to children, you will have great pain. You will greatly desire your husband, but he will rule over you."
Genesis 3:17
Then God said to the man, "You listened to what your wife said, and you ate fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat. "So I will put a curse on the ground, and you will have to work very hard for your food. In pain you will eat its food all the days of your life.
Genesis 20:6
Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, "Yes, I know you did not realize what you were doing. So I did not allow you to sin against me and touch her.
1 Chronicles 16:22
He said, "Don't touch my chosen people, and don't harm my prophets."
Job 1:11
But reach out your hand and destroy everything he has, and he will curse you to your face."
Job 2:5
But reach out your hand and destroy his flesh and bones, and he will curse you to your face."
Job 19:21
Pity me, my friends, pity me, because the hand of God has hit me.
1 Corinthians 7:1
Now I will discuss the things you wrote me about. It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A time to kill, and a time to heal,.... A time to kill may be meant of a violent death, as a time to die is of a natural one; so the Targum,

"a time to kill in war;''

or else, by the hand of the civil magistrate, such who deserve death. Aben Ezra interprets it "to wound", because of the opposite "to heal"; and so there is a time when wounds and diseases are incurable, and baffle all the skill of the physician, being designed unto death; and there is a time when, by the blessing of God on means, they are healed; the wound or sickness not being unto death: so the Targum paraphrases the last clause,

"to heal one that lies sick.''

This may be applied in a civil sense to calamities in kingdoms, and a restoration of peace and plenty to them; which is the property of God alone, who in this sense kills and makes alive in his own time,

Deuteronomy 32:39; And in a spiritual sense to the ministers of the word, who are instruments of slaying souls by the law, which is the killing letter, and of healing them by the Gospel, which pours in the oil and wine of peace and pardon through the blood of Christ, and so binds up and heals the broken hearted; and there is a time for both;

a time to break down, and a time to build up; to break down a building, and build a waste, as the Targum; to break down cities and the walls of them, as the of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; and to build them up: as in the times of Nehemiah and Zerubbabel: and so in a spiritual sense to break down the church of God, the tabernacle of David, and to raise up and repair the breaches of it; to build up Zion, and the walls of Jerusalem, or to restore the Gospel church state to its glory, for which there is a set time; see Amos 9:11.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 3:3. A time to kill, - heal, - break down, - build up

"The healing art, when out of season used,

Pernicious proves, and serves to hasten death.

But timely medicines drooping nature raise,

And health restore. - Now, Justice wields her sword

With wholesome rigour, nor the offender spares:

But Mercy now is more expedient found.

On crazy fabrics ill-timed cost bestow'd

No purpose answers, when discretion bids

To pull them down, and wait a season fit

To build anew."


 
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