Ecclesiastes 3:3

Christian Standard Bible ®

a time to kill and a time to heal;a time to tear down and a time to build;

Parallel Translations

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.

New Century Version
There is a time to kill and a time to heal. There is a time to destroy and a time to build.

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

¹There is an occasion for everything, ²a time to give birth and a time to die;a time to plant and a time to uproot; ³a time to kill and a time to heal;a time to tear down and a time to build;⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh;a time to mourn and a time to dance; ⁵a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; ⁶a time to search and a time to count as lost;a time to keep and a time to throw away; ⁷a time to tear and a time to sew;a time to be silent and a time to speak; ⁸a time to love and a time to hate;a time for war and a time for peace. ⁹What does the worker gain from his struggles? ¹⁰I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied.

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 replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:13
So the Lord God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?”

Genesis 3:16
He said to the woman:

Genesis 3:17
And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:

Genesis 20:6
Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I have not let you touch her.

1 Chronicles 16:22
“Do not touch my anointed onesor harm my prophets.”

Job 1:11
But stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

Job 2:5
But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

Job 19:21
Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,for God’s hand has struck me.

1 Corinthians 7:1
Now in response to the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to use a woman for sex.”

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."