Ecclesiastes 3:3
in Ecclesiastes 3a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
KJV
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verse"A time for killing and a time for healing." It is both the time for killing and the time for healing, he says: "I will kill, and I will revive" [Deut. 32, 39.]. He cures, provoking one to repentance. 'I killed' has the same meaning as "in the morning I murdered all the sinners of the Earth." [Ps. 100.8.] "A time for destroying and a time for building. "We are not able to build anything good unless we have first destroyed what is bad.
This site's exposition
To everything there is a season
on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The poem lays out fourteen paired times in verses 2 to 8, from a time to be born to a time for war. Each pair names its appointed hour, and together they cover the circle of human life. The poem waits for verse 11 to say what the times mean.
This site's exposition
a time to kill
Gill reads a time to kill as violent death, beside the natural time to die, and cites the Targum: a time to kill in war. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call it murder to kill outside the time God orders. To Jerome, God kills and heals, as in Deuteronomy 32:39.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
As to the rise and decline of sentient beings, he adds: A time to kill; and a time to kill is placed first, and a time to heal follows, on account of the state of corrupted nature, which has grown more prevalent, so that health …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
time to kill--namely, judicially, criminals; or, in wars of self-defense; not in malice. Out of this time and order, killing is murder. to heal--God has His times for "healing" (literally, Isa 38:5, 21; figuratively, De 32:39;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
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.”
Modern Voices1 voice
This people has a natural faculty for feeling itself on the eve of something--of the Bartholomew or the Revolution or the Commune or the Day of Judgment. It is this sense of crisis that makes France eternally young. It is perpetually pulling down and building …
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 |
| לַהֲרוֹג֙ | laharog | to kill | H2026 → | |
| וְעֵ֣ת | veet | and a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לִרְפּ֔וֹא | lirpo' | to heal | H7495 → | |
| עֵ֥ת | ʾet | a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לִפְר֖וֹץ | lifrotz | to break down | H6555 → | |
| וְעֵ֥ת | veet | and a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לִבְנֽוֹת׃ | livnot | to build | H1129 → | 376 times |
עֵ֤תa time
ʾetH6256 →296 times
לַהֲרוֹג֙to kill
laharogH2026 →
וְעֵ֣תand a time
veetH6256 →296 times
לִרְפּ֔וֹאto heal
lirpo'H7495 →
עֵ֥תa time
ʾetH6256 →296 times
לִפְר֖וֹץto break down
lifrotzH6555 →
וְעֵ֥תand a time
veetH6256 →296 times
לִבְנֽוֹת׃to build
livnotH1129 →376 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
Deuteronomy 32:39See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…
it leads to
- Job 5:18
For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Samuel 2:6
The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- Hosea 6:1
Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
- Isaiah 45:5
I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will equip you for battle, though you have not known Me,
- Isaiah 45:22
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- Job 5:18
Through
1 Samuel 2:6The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:39
See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…
- Isaiah 26:19
Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her…
- Deuteronomy 32:39
Through
Jeremiah 31:28Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 1:10
See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 1:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
About Ecclesiastes
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; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, IX. In the Place de La Bastille (1909); 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).