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a time to search, and a time to give something up as lost;[a]
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to rip, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:6 tn The term לְאַבֵּד (leʾabbed, Piel infinitive construct from אָבַד, ʾavad, “to destroy”) means “to lose” (e.g., Jer 23:1) as the contrast with בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek to find”) indicates (HALOT 3 s.v. I אבד; BDB 2 s.v. אבד 3). This is the declarative or delocutive-estimative sense of the Piel: “to view something as lost” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 28, §145; IBHS 403 §24.2g).

A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
(A)A time to keep silence,
And a time to (B)speak;
A time to love,
And a time to (C)hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

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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.

Read full chapter

a time to seek, and a time to (A)lose;
a time to keep, and a time to (B)cast away;
a time to (C)tear, and a time to sew;
a time to (D)keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to (E)hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Read full chapter