Ecclesiastes 3:7
in Ecclesiastes 3a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
KJV
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 3
Commentary
14 notes on this verse"A time for silence and a time for speaking." I think that the Pythagoreans, whose discipline is to remain silent for five years and afterwards to speak to learned men, took the origin of their decree from this. Let us learn therefore and so remain silent first, so that afterwards we open our mouths only to speak. Let us be silent for a set period and depend on the utterances of our teacher. Nothing seems right to us unless we learn that after much silence we are made into teachers by our pupils.
This site's exposition
a time to every purpose under the heaven
on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The poem lays out fourteen paired times across eight verses, birth and death opening the list and war and peace closing it, planting and plucking up, killing and healing, weeping and laughing, each pair naming its own appointed hour under the heaven. Delitzsch reads the pairs as a complete circle of human experience rather than a checklist, the point being that a time exists for every one of them, not that a man may choose which time is his. The poem states no doctrine of its own; it waits for verse 11 to say what the ordered times mean for the man living inside them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
A commentator
Desert FathersThe Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks · Written before 500.
proposed
A brother asked a hermit, 'If I live with other monks, and see something wrong, do you want me to say something about it?' The hermit replied, 'If some are older than you, or your contemporaries, you will have more peace of mind in keeping …
A commentator
Dionysius of AlexandriaA Commentary on the Beginning of Ecclesiastes - Chapter III · Written before 264.
proposed
"A time to keep silence, and a time to speak." A time to speak, when there are hearers who receive the word; but a time to keep silence, when the hearers pervert the word; as Paul says: "A man that is an heretic, after the …
When it to comes to words about God and searching his essence there is a time for silence, but when it concerns some good operation of which we have knowledge, it is time to speak of God's power, miracles and works which necessitate words. A creature should not overstep its bounds with regard to transcendent matters but remain content with knowledge of himself.
"A time to acquire and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away. "As is in many verses before the meaning is the same here too, which is apparent before and following this verse, in that he says: "A time to destroy and a time to build. " And then "A time to rend and a time to mend.
In words about things concerning God, when the discussion is about his being, that is the "moment for keeping silent." But when it is about some good activity [of God], of which the knowledge reaches down even to us, then is the moment for speaking of the powers, to proclaim the wonders, to recount the works, to use language thus far. In matters that lie beyond, it is the moment not to allow the creation to overstep its boundaries but to be content to know itself.
7 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
Ought we to be dumb? Certainly not. For "there is a time to keep silence and a time to speak." If, then, we are to give account for an idle word, let us take care that we do not have to give it also for an idle silence. For there is also an active silence, such as Susanna's was, who did more by keeping silence than if she had spoken. For in keeping silence before others she spoke to God and found no greater proof of her chastity than silence. Her conscience spoke where no word was heard, and she sought no judgment for herself at the hands of men, for she had the witness of the Lord. She therefore desired to be acquitted by the One who she knew could not be deceived in any way. The Lord himself in the gospel worked out in silence the salvation of humankind. David rightly therefore enjoined on himself not constant silence but watchfulness.
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Regarding the use of garments, he adds: A time to rend, when they are worn out; and a time to sew, because our garments are daily worn out and are not renewed, unless perhaps by a divine miracle, as in Deuteronomy 8: "Your garment with …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistThe Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 14 · Written before 604.
proposed
The tongue, therefore, should be discreetly curbed, not tied up fast. For it is written, "A wise man will hold his tongue until the time," in order, assuredly, that when he considers it opportune, he may relinquish the censorship of silence and apply himself to the service of utility by speaking such things as are fit. And again it is written, "A time to keep silence and a time to speak." For, indeed, the times for changes should be discreetly weighed, lest either, when the tongue ought to be restrained, it run loose to no profit in words, or, when it might speak with profit, it slothfully restrain itself. Considering which thing well, the psalmist says, "Set a watch, O Lord, on my mouth, and a door round about my lips."
Let anyone who loves wisdom, therefore, first beg this from God, then let the humble hearer seek out a teacher of truth, and all the while let him not only most carefully restrain his tongue from idle conversations but also hold back from preaching the …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
A time to rend, and a time to sew,.... To rend garments, in case of blasphemy, and in times of mourning and fasting, and then to sew them up when they are over; see Isa 37:1; This the Jews apply to the rending of the ten tribes from Rehoboam, signified by the rending of Jeroboam's garment, 1Ki 11:30; the sewing up or uniting of which is foretold, Eze 37:
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A time to rend, - sew, - keep silence, - speak - - “Intestine broils And factions rend a state: at length the breach Is heal’d, and rest ensues. Wisdom restrains The tongue, when words are vain: but now, ’Tis time to speak, and silence would be criminal.”
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Rend - i. e., Tear garments in sign of mourning or anger. See 2Sa 1:2, 2Sa 1:11 ff.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֵ֤ת | ʾet | a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לִקְר֙וֹעַ֙ | likroa' | to tear | H7167 → | |
| וְעֵ֣ת | veet | and a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לִתְפּ֔וֹר | litpor | to sew | H8609 → | |
| עֵ֥ת | ʾet | a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לַחֲשׁ֖וֹת | lachashot | to be silent | H2814 → | |
| וְעֵ֥ת | veet | and a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לְדַבֵּֽר׃ | ledaber | to speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
עֵ֤תa time
ʾetH6256 →296 times
לִקְר֙וֹעַ֙to tear
likroa'H7167 →
וְעֵ֣תand a time
veetH6256 →296 times
לִתְפּ֔וֹרto sew
litporH8609 →
עֵ֥תa time
ʾetH6256 →296 times
לַחֲשׁ֖וֹתto be silent
lachashotH2814 →
וְעֵ֥תand a time
veetH6256 →296 times
לְדַבֵּֽר׃to speak
ledaberH1696 →1141 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Micah 7:5Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:4
“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.
- Psalms 118:8–9
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
- Matthew 10:16
Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
- Job 6:14–15
A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- Judges 16:5–20
The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him.…
- Jeremiah 9:4
Through
Acts 4:20For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 20:9
If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of…
- Acts 22:15
You will be His witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard.
- 1 Corinthians 9:16–17
Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
- Jeremiah 20:9
Where this verse is studied
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About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 1.3.9; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, James 1:19; Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Dionysius of Alexandria, A Commentary on the Beginning of Ecclesiastes - Chapter III; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Gregory of Nyssa, HOMILIES ON ECCLESIASTES 7; Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary (church-history corpus); Gregory the Dialogist, The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 14; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).