Ecclesiastes 3:8
in Ecclesiastes 3a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
KJV
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 3
Commentary
16 notes on this verse"A time for loving and a time for hating." The time for loving God, children, wife, and relatives is afterwards, and the time for hating those in martyrdom since hostile piety attacks those steadfast men for the sake of the confession of Christ. Or maybe there is a time for loving the law, and those things that the law decrees- that is circumcision, sacrifices, the Sabbath, Neumania [The Jewish feast of the New Moon.], and a time for hating them when the grace of the Gospel has been lost.
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
If you make a distinction in your mind between things thought of as virtue and vice, you will recognize the moment for the right attitude to each of them. Restraint and pleasure, selfcontrol and indulgence, humility and pride, goodwill and crookedness, and all that are regarded as opposites of one another, are plainly set out for you by the Ecclesiast, so that by adopting attitudes about them in your soul you may make profitable decisions. Thus there is a moment for loving restraint and for hating pleasure, so that you do not become pleasureloving rather than Godloving, and likewise in all the other cases, quarrelloving, gainloving, gloryloving, and all the rest, which through the use of affection for improper ends separate us from the disposition to good.
What truly exists is the one and only intrinsically Lovable, of whom also the rule of the Ten Commandments says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." And again the only thing to be hated in truth is the inventor of evil, the enemy of our life, about whom the law says, "You shall hate your enemy." The love of God becomes a strength for the one who loves, but the disposition to evil brings destruction on the one who loves [what is] evil.
If we have learned, then, whom we should go to war with and how to carry on the fight, we must also learn the other part of the lesson, with whom the Scripture solemnly warns us to make a peaceful alliance. What is the good army, with which I am to join forces through peace? Who is the king of such an army? It is clear, from what we are taught by the inspired Scriptures, that it is the array of the angels of the host of heaven.
Therefore the distinction between virtue and vice enables us to understand the opportunity which present. Ecclesiastes explains continence and pleasure, temperance and intemperance, modesty and arrogance, benevolence and maliciousness and anything else of this sort for imparting profitable advice. Thus we have a time to love continence and to hate pleasure that we may refrain from licentious behavior and be devout. Strife, gain, love of glory and so forth do not benefit love but prevent us from maintaining a pleasant disposition.
If we have gained knowledge about the enemy against whom we must fight and take up arms, we ought to learn about another part of the text, that is, when to make a treaty of peace. Who is the good commander? He enables me to win favor by peaceful means. Who is the leader of this army? The divinely inspired scriptures clearly depict the battle array of angels belonging to the heavenly army.
9 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers3 voices
Every soul has a reprehensible companion and a praiseworthy one: the bridegroom, which is the Logos, and the adulterer, which is the devil. If the devil is present, one should not give him room; one should not let him in, as Judas did. This kind …
If powers, forces, rulers of the world of darkness and evil spirits tempt us, we are not supposed to take issue with them or make peace with them, but we must fight them. But when we have subdued them and are given power "to tread …
We must love one thing alone, that which the law of the Decalogue speaks, "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul and mind." There is one object deserving of our hated, the inventer of evil, the enemy our lives of whom the Law says, "You shall hate your enemy." The love of God strengthens the person who loves, whereas a disposition towards evil brings destruction upon anyone who loves it.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Regarding the alternation of the act of the concupiscible power, he says: A time of love, when a thing possesses goodness; and a time of hatred, when it turns to wickedness; Psalm: "I have hated and abhorred iniquity"; and Romans 12: "Hating evil, cleaving to …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
A time to love, and a time to hate,.... For one to love his friend, and to hate a man, a sinner, as the Targum; to love a friend while he continues such, and hate him, or less love him, when he proves treacherous and unfaithful; an instance of a change of love into hatred may be seen in the case of Amnon, 2Sa 13:
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
hate--for example, sin, lusts (Lu 14:26); that is, to love God so much more as to seem in comparison to hate "father or mother," when coming between us and God. a time of war . . . peace-- (Lu 14:31).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3220: “'A Time to Love'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
IF you will look at our text, dear Friends, you will see that it is very ominously followed by the words, "and a time to hate." We are changeable creatures and we live in an ever-changing world—and this Chapter gives an accurate summary of how most of our lives are spent!
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3220: “'A Time to Love'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
IF you will look at our text, dear Friends, you will see that it is very ominously followed by the words, "and a time to hate." We are changeable creatures and we live in an ever-changing world—and this Chapter gives an accurate summary of how most of our lives are spent! "A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." Ours is a checkered life. We are not long in any one state and we quickly change from one condition to another—which is sometimes better, but sometimes worse. I am not going, however, to speak about these earthly variations, but about something that is of a far higher order. And I intend, first, to apply the text to Christ's love to us, for He had "a time to love." And then, secondly, to apply it to our love to Him, for we, also, have "a time to love." I. First, then, concerning CHRIST'S LOVE TO US, for He had "a time to love." Go back with me in thought, Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, to the council chamber of eternity. God ordained that Adam, the great representative of the human race, would fall in the time of testing and that you and I and all mankind would be ruined by his fall. In His far-seeing vision, He perceived all of us going astray like lost sheep and then arose the necessity for the appointment of a Deliverer to rescue us from going down into the Pit.
A time to love, - hate, - of war, - of peace - “Love turns to hatred; interest or caprice Dissolves the firmest knot by friendship tied. O’er rival nations, with revenge inflamed, Or lust of power, fell Discord shakes awhile Her baleful torch: now smiling Peace returns.” The above paraphrase on the verses cited contains a general view of the principal occurrences of time, in reference to the human being, from his cradle to his grave, through all the operations of life.
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 |
| לֶֽאֱהֹב֙ | leeho | to love | H157 → | 211 times |
| וְעֵ֣ת | veet | and a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לִשְׂנֹ֔א | lisno' | to hate | H8130 → | 146 times |
| עֵ֥ת | ʾet | a time of | H6256 → | 296 times |
| מִלְחָמָ֖ה | milchamah | warfare | H4421 → | 320 times |
| וְעֵ֥ת | veet | and a time of | H6256 → | 296 times |
| שָׁלֽוֹם׃ ס | shalom | peace | H7965 → |
עֵ֤תa time
ʾetH6256 →296 times
לֶֽאֱהֹב֙to love
leehoH157 →211 times
וְעֵ֣תand a time
veetH6256 →296 times
לִשְׂנֹ֔אto hate
lisno'H8130 →146 times
עֵ֥תa time of
ʾetH6256 →296 times
מִלְחָמָ֖הwarfare
milchamahH4421 →320 times
וְעֵ֥תand a time of
veetH6256 →296 times
שָׁלֽוֹם׃ סpeace
shalomH7965 →
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
Luke 14:26“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.
it leads to
- Matthew 10:37
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;
- John 12:25
Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
- Philippians 3:8
More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may…
- Acts 20:24
But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good…
- Matthew 10:37
Through
Ephesians 5:25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
it leads to
- 1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
- Colossians 3:19
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
- Ephesians 5:28
In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
- Genesis 2:24
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
- 1 Peter 3:7
Where this verse is studied
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About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3220: “'A Time to Love'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 81:4; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 81:21; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary (church-history corpus); Gregory of Nyssa, HOMILIES ON ECCLESIASTES 8; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).