Ecclesiastes 3:6

Christian Standard Bible ®

a time to search and a time to count as lost;a time to keep and a time to throw away;

Parallel Translations

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;

Geneva Bible (1587)
A time to seeke, and a time to lose: a time to keepe, 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

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 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
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Genesis 3:2
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden.

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 3:14
So the Lord God said to the serpent:

Genesis 3:15
I will put hostility between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring.He will strike your head,and you will strike his heel.

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 3:19
You will eat bread by the sweat of your browuntil you return to the ground,since you were taken from it.For you are dust,and you will return to dust.”

Genesis 6:2
the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves.

Genesis 39:7
After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

Joshua 7:21
When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Babylon, five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing a pound and a quarter, I coveted them and took them. You can see for yourself. They are concealed in the ground inside my tent, with the silver under the cloak.”

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!