Verse (Click for Chapter)
New International Version
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:New Living Translation
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.English Standard Version
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:Berean Standard Bible
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:King James Bible
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:New King James Version
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:New American Standard Bible
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven—NASB 1995
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—NASB 1977
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—Legacy Standard Bible
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven—Amplified Bible
There is a season (a time appointed) for everything and a time for every delight and event or purpose under heaven—Christian Standard Bible
There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:Holman Christian Standard Bible
There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven: American Standard Version
For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:Aramaic Bible in Plain English
To everything there is a time, and a time for every matter under the sunBrenton Septuagint Translation
To all things there is a time, and a season for every matter under heaven.Contemporary English Version
Everything on earth has its own time and its own season. Douay-Rheims Bible
All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. English Revised Version
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:GOD'S WORD® Translation
Everything has its own time, and there is a specific time for every activity under heaven:Good News Translation
Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. International Standard Version
There is a season for everything, and a time for every event under heaven: JPS Tanakh 1917
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:Literal Standard Version
To everything—a season, and a time to every delight under the heavens:Majority Standard Bible
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:New American Bible
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. NET Bible
For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth: New Revised Standard Version
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:New Heart English Bible
For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:Webster's Bible Translation
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:World English Bible
For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: Young's Literal Translation
To everything -- a season, and a time to every delight under the heavens:Additional Translations ...
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(1) A season.--The word is only found in later Hebrew (Nehemiah 2:6; Esther 9:27; Esther 9:31), and in the Chaldee of Daniel and Ezra.
Purpose.--The use of the word here and in Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 5:8; Ecclesiastes 8:6, in the general sense of "a matter," belongs to later Hebrew. The primary meaning of the word is "pleasure" or "desire," and it is so used in this book (Ecclesiastes 5:4; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ecclesiastes 12:10). . . .
Pulpit Commentary
Verses 1-22. - Section 4. In confirmation of the truth that man's happiness depends upon the will of God, Koheleth proceeds to show how Providence arranges even the minutest concerns; that man can alter nothing, must make the best of things as they are, bear with anomalies, bounding his desires by this present life. Verses 1-8. - The providence of God disposes and arranges every detail of man's life. This proposition is stated first generally, and then worked out in particular by means of antithetical sentences. In Hebrew manuscripts and most printed texts vers. 2-8 are arranged in two parallel columns, so that one "time" always stands under another. A similar arrangement is found in Joshua 12:9, etc., containing the catalogue of the conquered Canaanite kings; and in Esther 9:7, etc., giving the names of Haman's tensions. In the present passage we have fourteen pairs of contrasts, ranging from external circ*mstances to the inner affections of man's being. Verse 1. - To every thing there is u season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. . "Season" and "time" are rendered by the LXX. καιρός and χρόνος. The word for "season" (zeman), denotes a fixed, definite portion of time; while eth, "time," signifies rather the beginning of a period, or is used as a general appellation. The two ideas are sometimes concurrent in the New Testament; e.g., Acts 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:1 (comp. also Daniel 2:21, where the Septuagint has καιροὺς καὶ χρόνοις; and Daniel 7:12, where we find the singular καιροῦ καὶ καιροῦ in Theodotion, and χρόνου καὶ καιροῦ in the Septuagint). So in Wisd. 8:8, "wisdom to foreseeth signs and wonders, and the events of seasons and times (ἐκβάσεις καιρῶν καὶ χρόνων)." Every thing refers especially to men's movements and actions, and to what concerns them. Purpose; chephets, originally meaning "delight," "pleasure," in the later Hebrew came to signify "business," "thing," "matter." The proposition is - In human affairs Providence arranges the moment when everything shall happen, the duration of its operation, and the time appropriate thereto. The view of the writer takes in the whole circ*mstances of men's life from its commencement to its close. But the thought is not, as some have opined, that there is naught but uncertainty, fluctuation, and imperfection in human affairs, nor, as Plumptre conceives, "It is wisdom to do the right thing at the right time, that inopportuneness is the bane of life," for many of the circ*mstances mentioned, e.g. birth and death, are entirely beyond men's will and control, and the maxim, Καιρὸν γνῶθι, cannot apply to man in such cases. Kobeleth is confirming his assertion, made in the last chapter, that wisdom, wealth, success, happiness, etc., are not in man's hands, that his own efforts can secure none of them - they are distributed at the will of God. He establishes this dictum by entering into details, and showing the ordering of Providence and the supremacy of God in all men's concerns, the most trivial as well as the most important. The Vulgate gives a paraphrase, and not a very exact one, Omnia tempus habeat, et suis spatiis transenat universa sub caelo. Koheleth intimates, without attempting to reconcile, the great crux of man's free-will and God's decree. Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew
To everything
לַכֹּ֖ל (lak·kōl)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every
there is a season,
זְמָ֑ן (zə·mān)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2165: An appointed occasion
and a time
וְעֵ֥ת (wə·‘êṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - common singular
Strong's 6256: Time, now, when
for every
לְכָל־ (lə·ḵāl)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every
purpose
חֵ֖פֶץ (ḥê·p̄eṣ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2656: Pleasure, desire, a valuable thing, a matter
under
תַּ֥חַת (ta·ḥaṯ)
Preposition
Strong's 8478: The bottom, below, in lieu of
heaven:
הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ (haš·šā·mā·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8064: Heaven, sky
Links
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT
Ecclesiastes 3:1 ESV
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NASB
Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJVEcclesiastes 3:1 BibleApps.com
Ecclesiastes 3:1 Biblia Paralela
Ecclesiastes 3:1 Chinese Bible
Ecclesiastes 3:1 French Bible
Ecclesiastes 3:1 Catholic BibleOT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
