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Thursday, August 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible

Ecclesiastes 3:3

A time to kill, and a time to heal, - A time to break down, and a time to build up;

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.
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;
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 For, every thing, there is a season, - and a time for every pursuit, under the heavens: - 2 A time to be born, and a time to die, - A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is 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 wail, and a time to dance for joy; 5 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; 6 A time to seek, and a time to give up as lost, - A time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew, - A time to be silent, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love and a time to hate, - A time of war, and a time of peace. 9 What profit hath he that worketh, in that wherein, himself, hath toiled? 10 I looked at the employment which God hath given to the sons of men, to work therein:

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
And the man said, - The woman whom thou didst put with me, she, gave me of the tree, so I did eat.
Genesis 3:13
Then said Yahweh God to the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, the serpent, deceived me, so I did eat.
Genesis 3:16
Unto the woman, he said, I will, increase, thy pain of pregnancy, In pain, shalt thou year children, - Yet, unto thy husband, shall be thy hinging, Though, he, rule over thee.
Genesis 3:17
And, to the man, he said, Because thou didst hearken to the voice of thy wife, and so didst eat of the tree as to which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, Accursed be the ground for thy sake, In pain, shalt thou eat of it, all the days of thy life;
Genesis 20:6
And God said unto him in a dream, I, also, knew, that in the integrity of thy heart, thou didst this, so then, even I myself, withheld thee from sinning against me, for this reason, have I not suffered thee to touch her.
1 Chronicles 16:22
Ye may not touch mine Anointed ones, And, to my Prophets, may ye do no wrong.
Job 1:11
But, in very deed, put forth, I pray thee, thy hand, and smite all that he hath, - verily, unto thy face, will he curse thee.
Job 2:5
In very deed, put forth, I pray thee thy hand, and smite unto his bone, and unto his flesh, - verily, unto thy face, will he curse thee.
Job 19:21
Pity me! pity me! ye, my friends, for, the hand of GOD, hath stricken me!
1 Corinthians 7:1
Now, concerning the things whereof ye wrote, it were, good, for a man, not to touch, 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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