Ecclesiastes 3:5

Bible in Basic English

A time to take stones away and a time to get stones together; a time for kissing and a time to keep from kissing;

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;

Hebrew Names Version
A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

King James Version
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

English Standard Version
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

New American Standard Bible
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

New Century Version
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.

Amplified Bible
A time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.

World English Bible
A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

Geneva Bible (1587)
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones: a time to embrace, and a time to be farre from embracing.

Legacy Standard Bible
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

Berean Standard Bible
a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

Contemporary English Version
for throwing stones and gathering stones, embracing and parting.

Complete Jewish Bible
a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

Darby Translation
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Easy-to-Read Version
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.

George Lamsa Translation
A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

Good News Translation
the time for making love and the time for not making love, the time for kissing and the time for not kissing.

Lexham English Bible
a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

Literal Translation
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A tyme to cast awaye stones, and a tyme to gather stones together: A tyme to enbrace, & a tyme to refrayne from enbracynge:

American Standard Version
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; {S}{S}{N}

King James Version (1611)
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together: a time to imbrace, and a time to refraine from imbracing.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
A tyme to cast away stones, and a tyme to gather stones together: A tyme to imbrace, and a tyme to refrayne from imbracyng.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
a time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to abstain from embracing;

English Revised Version
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Tyme to scatere stoonys, and tyme to gadere togidere; tyme to colle, and tyme to be fer fro collyngis.

Update Bible Version
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Webster's Bible Translation
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

New English Translation
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

New King James Version
A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

New Living Translation
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

New Life Bible
There is a time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to kiss, and a time to turn from kissing.

New Revised Standard
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A time to cast away stones, and a time to heap up stones, - A time to embrace, and a time to be far from loving embrace;

Douay-Rheims Bible
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

Revised Standard Version
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Young's Literal Translation
A time to cast away stones, And a time to heap up stones. A time to embrace, And a time to be far from embracing.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

Contextual Overview

¹ For everything there is a fixed time, and a time for every business under the sun. ² A time for birth and a time for death; a time for planting and a time for uprooting; ³ A time to put to death and a time to make well; a time for pulling down and a time for building up; ⁴ A time for weeping and a time for laughing; a time for sorrow and a time for dancing; ⁵ A time to take stones away and a time to get stones together; a time for kissing and a time to keep from kissing; ⁶ A time for search and a time for loss; a time to keep and a time to give away; ⁷ A time for undoing and a time for stitching; a time for keeping quiet and a time for talk; ⁸ A time for love and a time for hate; a time for war and a time for peace. ⁹ What profit has the worker in the work which he does? ¹⁰ I saw the work which God has put on the sons of man.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

to cast: Joshua 4:3-9, Joshua 10:27, 2 Samuel 18:17, 2 Samuel 18:18, 2 Kings 3:25

a time to embrace: Exodus 19:15, 1 Samuel 21:4, 1 Samuel 21:5, Song of Solomon 2:6, Song of Solomon 2:7, Joel 2:16, 1 Corinthians 7:5

refrain from: Heb. be far from

Reciprocal: Genesis 31:46 - Gather

Cross-References

Genesis 2:17
But of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not take; for on the day when you take of it, death will certainly come to you.

Genesis 3:2
And the woman said, We may take of the fruit of the trees in the garden:

Genesis 3:3
But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you.

Genesis 3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband.

Genesis 3:7
And their eyes were open and they were conscious that they had no clothing and they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together.

Genesis 3:10
And he said, Hearing your voice in the garden I was full of fear, because I was without clothing: and I kept myself from your eyes.

Genesis 3:13
And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, I was tricked by the deceit of the snake and I took it.

Genesis 3:14
And the Lord God said to the snake, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle and every beast of the field; you will go flat on the earth, and dust will be your food all the days of your life:

Genesis 3:15
And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.

Genesis 3:22
And the Lord God said, Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living for ever.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together,.... To cast stones out of a field or vineyard where they are hurtful, and to gather them together to make walls and fences of, or build houses with; and may be understood both of throwing down buildings, as the temple of Jerusalem, so that not one stone was left upon another; of pouring out the stones of the sanctuary, and of gathering them again and laying them on one another; which was done when the servants of the Lord took pleasure in the stones of Zion, and favoured the dust thereof. Some understand this of precious stones, and of casting them away through luxury, wantonness, or contempt, and gathering them again: and it may be applied, as to the neglect of the Gentiles for a long time, and the gathering of those stones of which children were raised to Abraham; so of the casting away of the Jews for their rejection of the Messiah, and of the gathering of them again by conversion, when they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign on his land, Zechariah 9:16;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing: or "to be far from" g it; it may not only design conjugal embraces h, but parents embracing their children, as Jacob did his; and one brother embracing another, as Esau Jacob, and one friend embracing another; all which is very proper and agreeable at times: but there are some seasons so very calamitous and distressing, in which persons are obliged to drop such fondnesses: it is true, in a spiritual sense, of the embraces of Christ and believers, which sometimes are, and sometimes are not, enjoyed, Proverbs 4:8.

g עת לרחק "tempus elongandi se", Pagninus, Montanus; "tempus longe fieri", V. L. h "Optatos dedit amplexus", Virgil. Aeneid. 8. v. 405.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Stones may be regarded either as materials for building, or as impediments to the fertility of land (see 2 Kings 3:19, 2 Kings 3:25; Isaiah 5:2).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 3:5. A time to cast away stones, - to gather stones, - to embrace, - to refrain —

"One while domestic cares abortive prove,

And then successful. Nature now invites

Connubial pleasures: but, when languid grown,

No less rejects."