Ecclesiastes 3:6
in Ecclesiastes 3a time to search and a time to count as lost, a time to keep and a time to discard,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
KJV
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 3
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThis 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 search
Barnes renders it: seek, and give up for lost. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown counsel contentment when God wills a loss, and read the time to discard as giving in charity. Gregory of Nyssa gives the search for God every season of life.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Do you want to learn, too, the right moment to seek the Lord? To put it briefly—all your life. In this case alone the one moment to pursue it is the whole state of life. For it is not at a fixed moment and an appointed time that it is good to seek the Lord, but never to cease from continual search—that is the real timeliness.
Do you wish to learn the opportune time for seeking the Lord? Let me briefly state that your entire life is the only time to carry this out. Seeking the Lord is not defined by limit or time; rather, the truly opportune time for this consists in never putting an end to our search.
Before the good things were found (for example, the knowledge of truth), people were in ignorance. For them it was the time of losing. But this time was preceded by the time of seeking; for when some one seeks the good, the time has come …
Jerusalem, therefore, was abandoned "like a booth in a vineyard" because the guardian angels left it along with the Lord when Christ had suffered. A crop in the field is guarded by the Lord not for its own sake but only for the grain it …
"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.
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Regarding the use of possessions, he says: A time to acquire and a time to lose. We acquire through diligence, but lose through sloth; Proverbs 14: "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears down even what was built with her own …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
A time to get, and a time to lose,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
time to get--for example, to gain honestly a livelihood (Eph 4:23). lose--When God wills losses to us, then is our time to be content. keep--not to give to the idle beggar (2Th 3:10). cast away--in charity (Pr 11:24); or to part with the dearest object, rather than the soul (Mr 9:43). To be careful is right in its place, but not when it comes between us and Jesus Christ (Lu 10:40-42).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
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!
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Get ... lose - Rather, seek, and a time to give up for lost.
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 |
| לְבַקֵּשׁ֙ | levakesh | to seek | H1245 → | 225 times |
| וְעֵ֣ת | veet | and a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לְאַבֵּ֔ד | leabed | to count as lost | H6 → | 184 times |
| עֵ֥ת | ʾet | a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לִשְׁמ֖וֹר | lishmor | to keep | H8104 → | 468 times |
| וְעֵ֥ת | veet | and a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לְהַשְׁלִֽיךְ׃ | lehashlikh | to throw away | H7993 → |
עֵ֤תa time
ʾetH6256 →296 times
לְבַקֵּשׁ֙to seek
levakeshH1245 →225 times
וְעֵ֣תand a time
veetH6256 →296 times
לְאַבֵּ֔דto count as lost
leabedH6 →184 times
עֵ֥תa time
ʾetH6256 →296 times
לִשְׁמ֖וֹרto keep
lishmorH8104 →468 times
וְעֵ֥תand a time
veetH6256 →296 times
לְהַשְׁלִֽיךְ׃to throw away
lehashlikhH7993 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 12 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); Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 77:18; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Gregory of Elvira, EXPOSITION OF ECCLESIASTES, FRAGMENT 2; Gregory of Nyssa, HOMILIES ON ECCLESIASTES 7; Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary (church-history corpus); 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).