Ecclesiastes 3:6

The NET Bible®

A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.

Update Bible Version
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast 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.

Webster's Bible Translation
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

World English Bible
A time to seek, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to cast 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.

English Standard 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.

English Revised Version
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast 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,

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;

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.

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.

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;

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

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;

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;

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;

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;

Young's Literal Translation
A time to seek, And a time to destroy. A time to keep, And a time to cast away.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A tyme to wynne, and a tyme to lese: A tyme to spare, and a tyme to spende:

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 King James Version
A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw 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.

Legacy Standard Bible
A time to search and a time to lose;A time to keep and a time to throw away.

Contextual Overview

¹ For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth: ² A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted; ³ A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴ A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. ⁵ A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ⁶ A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; ⁷ A time to rip, and a time to sew; a time to keep silent, and a time to speak. ⁸ A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. ⁹ What benefit can a worker gain from his toil? ¹⁰ I have observed the burden that God has given to people 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 more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard'?"

Genesis 3:2
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it."

Genesis 3:14
The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15
And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring's heel."

Genesis 3:17
But to Adam he said, "Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return."

Genesis 6:2
the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose.

Genesis 39:7
Soon after these things, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Have sex with me."

Joshua 7:21
I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath."

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!