Ecclesiastes3
New International Version
1There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9What do workers gain from their toil?
10I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.
11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
13That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
14I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
15Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
16And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”
18I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.
19Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.
20All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.
21Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ecclesiastes 3.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The changes of human affairs. (1-10). The Divine counsels unchangeable. (11-15). The vanity of worldly power. (16-22).
vv1-10
To expect unchanging happiness in a changing world, must end in disappointment. To bring ourselves to our state in life, is our duty and wisdom in this world. God's whole plan for the government of the world will be found altogether wise, just, and good. Then let us seize the favourable opportunity for every good purpose and work. The time to die is fast approaching. Thus labour and sorrow fill the world. This is given us, that we may always have something to do; none were sent into the world to be idle.
vv11-15
Every thing is as God made it; not as it appears to us. We have the world so much in our hearts, are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things, that we have neither time nor spirit to see God's hand in them. The world has not only gained possession of the heart, but has formed thoughts against the beauty of God's works. We mistake if we think we were born for ourselves; no, it is our business to do good in this life, which is short and uncertain; we have but little time to be doing good, therefore we should redeem time. Satisfaction with Divine Providence, is having faith that all things work together for good to them that love him. God doeth all, that men should fear before him. The world, as it has been, is, and will be. There has no change befallen us, nor has any temptation by it taken us, but such as is common to men.
vv16-22
Without the fear of the Lord, man is but vanity; set that aside, and judges will not use their power well. And there is another Judge that stands before the door. With God there is a time for the redressing of grievances, though as yet we see it not. Solomon seems to express his wish that men might perceive, that by choosing this world as their portion, they brought themselves to a level with the beasts, without being free, as they are, from present vexations and a future account. Both return to the dust from whence they were taken. What little reason have we to be proud of our bodies, or bodily accomplishments! But as none can fully comprehend, so few consider properly, the difference between the rational soul of man, and the spirit or life of the beast. The spirit of man goes upward, to be judged, and is then fixed in an unchangeable state of happiness or misery. It is as certain that the spirit of the beast goes downward to the earth; it perishes at death. Surely their case is lamentable, the height of whose hopes and wishes is, that they may die like beasts. Let our inquiry be, how an eternity of existence may be to us an eternity of enjoyment? To answer this, is the grand design of revelation. Jesus is revealed as the Son of God, and the Hope of sinners.
Key Words
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
זְמָן: an appointed occasion
עֵת: time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etc.
חֵפֶץ: pleasure; hence (abstractly) desire; concretely, a valuable thing; hence (by extension) a matter (as something in mind)
תַּחַת: the bottom (as depressed); only adverbially, below (often with prepositional prefix underneath), in lieu of, etc.
שָׁמַיִם: the sky (as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve)
יָלַד: to bear young; causatively, to beget; medically, to act as midwife; specifically, to show lineage
מוּת: to die (literally or figuratively); causatively, to kill
נָטַע: properly, to strike in, i.e. fix; specifically, to plant (literally or figuratively)
עָקַר: to pluck up (especially by the roots); specifically, to hamstring; figuratively, to exterminate
Cross References
Ecclesiastes 3Man's appointed time on earth is bound by God's sovereign, unalterable decree.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Scripture commands abstaining from physical embracing during times of solemn assembly or national crises.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
New Testament parallel regarding temporarily refraining from marital intimacy for spiritual focus.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
God claims the sovereign prerogative to both kill and heal in His own timing.
Supported by JFB
The mariners cast away their cargo to save their lives, exemplifying a time to lose.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Paul's shipmates voluntarily cast away ship tackle to survive, demonstrating a time to lose.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Joyfully accepting the plundering of property for a higher spiritual purpose, a time to lose.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Reuben rends his clothes in extreme grief, illustrating a physical expression of mourning.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Job's friends sit in silence, demonstrating the proper time to refrain from speaking.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Reinforces the recurring theme of the painful, God-given labor that exercises humanity.
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Praising the absolute perfection, justice, and flawless timing of God's sovereign work.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The unsearchable depth of God's wisdom, which man cannot fully comprehend from beginning to end.
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Further corroborates that man cannot trace or find out the work of God.
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Using the world without abusing it, aligning with Solomon's advice on moderate enjoyment.
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Contrasts the spirit returning to God with the body returning to dust.
Supported by Matthew Henry