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Ecclesiastes · Geneva Bible (1599)

Ecclesiastes 3 Geneva Bible (1599)

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  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Textus Receptus
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 1599
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

Notes on this text (1)

1 To all things there is an appointed time, and a time to euery purpose vnder the heauen. 2 A time to bee borne, and a time to die: a time to plant, and a time to plucke vp that which is planted. 3 A time to slay, and a time to heale: a time to breake downe, and a time to builde. 4 A time to weepe, and a time to laugh: a time to mourne, and a time to dance. 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones: a time to embrace, and a time to be farre from embracing. 6 A time to seeke, and a time to lose: a time to keepe, and a time to cast away. 7 A time to rent, and a time to sowe: a time to keepe silence, and a time to speake. 8 A time to loue, and a time to hate: a time of warre, and a time of peace. 9 What profite hath hee that worketh of the thing wherein he trauaileth? 10 I haue seene the trauaile that God hath giuen to ye sonnes of men to humble them thereby. 11 He hath made euery thing beautifull in his time: also he hath set the worlde in their heart, yet can not man finde out the worke that God hath wrought from the beginning euen to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing good in them, but to reioyce, and to doe good in his life. 13 And also that euery man eateth and drinketh, and seeth the commoditie of all his labour. this is the gift of God. 14 I knowe that whatsoeuer God shall doe, it shalbe for euer: to it can no man adde, and from it can none diminish: for God hath done it, that they should feare before him. 15 What is that that hath bene? that is nowe: and that that shalbe, hath now bene: for God requireth that which is past. 16 And moreouer I haue seene vnder the sunne the place of iudgement, where was wickednesse, and the place of iustice where was iniquitie. 17 I thought in mine heart, God wil iudge the iust and the wicked: for time is there for euery purpose and for euery worke. 18 I considered in mine heart the state of the children of men that God had purged them: yet to see to, they are in themselues as beastes. 19 For the condition of the children of men, and the condition of beasts are euen as one condition vnto them. As the one dyeth, so dyeth the other: for they haue all one breath, and there is no excellency of man aboue ye beast: for all is vanitie. 20 All goe to one place, and all was of the dust, and all shall returne to the dust. 21 Who knoweth whether the spirit of man ascend vpward, and the spirit of the beast descend downeward to the earth? 22 Therefore I see that there is nothing better then that a man shoulde reioyce in his affaires, because that is his portion. For who shall bring him to see what shalbe after him?

Cross references (22)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Ecclesiastes 3:17; Matthew 16:3; Ecclesiastes 8:5–6; Ecclesiastes 7:14; 2 Kings 5:26
  2. 2 Hebrews 9:27; Job 14:5; Matthew 15:13; Jeremiah 18:7–10; John 16:21
  3. 3 Hosea 6:1–2; 1 Samuel 2:6; Jeremiah 45:4; Jeremiah 31:28; Deuteronomy 32:39
  4. 4 Romans 12:15; Psalm 30:5; James 4:9; John 16:20–22; Psalm 126:1–2
  5. 5 2 Kings 3:25; Joshua 10:27; Joshua 4:3–9; Joel 2:16; 1 Samuel 21:4–5
  6. 6 Philippians 3:7–8; Luke 9:24–25; Mark 8:35–37; Matthew 16:25–26; Mark 10:28–30
  7. 7 Micah 7:5; Amos 5:13; Esther 4:13–14; Lamentations 3:28; Acts 4:20
  8. 8 Ephesians 5:25; Ephesians 5:28–29; Luke 14:26; 1 Kings 5:4; 2 Chronicles 19:2
  9. 9 Ecclesiastes 1:3; Proverbs 14:23; Ecclesiastes 5:16; Ecclesiastes 2:22–23; Matthew 16:26
  10. 10 Ecclesiastes 1:13–14; Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 2:26; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8
  11. 11 Romans 11:33; Romans 1:19–20; Job 11:7; Ecclesiastes 8:17; Job 5:9
  12. 12 Psalm 37:3; Ecclesiastes 3:22; 1 Timothy 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:15–16; Acts 20:35
  13. 13 Ecclesiastes 9:7; Ecclesiastes 2:24; Isaiah 65:21–23; Psalm 128:2; Ecclesiastes 5:18–20
  14. 14 James 1:17; Psalm 33:11; Romans 11:36; Acts 5:39; Proverbs 30:6
  15. 15 Ecclesiastes 1:9–10; Ecclesiastes 6:10
  16. 16 Ecclesiastes 4:1; Ecclesiastes 5:8; 1 Kings 21:9–21; Psalm 58:1–2; Acts 23:3
  17. 17 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Ecclesiastes 3:1; Matthew 16:27; Psalm 98:9
  18. 18 Psalm 73:22; Psalm 49:12; Hebrews 9:27; 2 Peter 2:12; Genesis 3:17–19
  19. 19 Psalm 49:12; Psalm 49:20; Job 14:10–12; Ecclesiastes 2:14; Psalm 89:47–48
  20. 20 Genesis 3:19; Job 34:15; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Numbers 27:13; Job 10:9–10
  21. 21 Ecclesiastes 12:7; John 14:3; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Luke 16:22–23; Philippians 1:23
  22. 22 Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:11–12; Ecclesiastes 8:7; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 10:14

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

Articles and answers on this site that cite Ecclesiastes 3.

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 3:21 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XIII, Chapters 21–23)

    … knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" or of beast, as in the book of Solomon, "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" or of that physical spirit which is called wind, for so the Psalmist calls it: …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)

  2. Quotes verse 3:2 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture XX)

    And what Solomon spoke of others will suit you also; for he said, in that case, There is a time to bear and a time to die; but to you, in the reverse order, there was a time to die and a time to be born; and one and the same time effected both of these, and your birth …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)

  3. Quotes verse 3:1 Gregory of Nazianzus, Theological Orations (The First Theological Oration)

    As of even honey repletion and satiety, though it be of honey, produce vomiting; and, as Solomon says and I think, there is a time for every thing, and that which is good ceases to be good if it be not done in a good way; just as a flower is quite out of season in winter, and just as …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)

  4. Quotes verse 3:7 Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit (Chapters XXVIII–XXIX)

    Or perhaps this was the time for silence spoken of by Solomon the wise. For, when life is buffeted by so fierce a storm that all the intelligence of those who are instructed in the word is filled with the deceit of false reasoning and confounded, like an eye filled with dust, when men are stunned by strange and awful …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)

  5. Quotes verse 3:5 Augustine of Hippo, On Christian Doctrine (Book III, Chapters 17–21)

    And, accordingly, if these last had been still alive at the advent of our Lord, when the time not of casting stones away but of gathering them together had come, they would have immediately made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)