Ecclesiastes 3:6

6 a time for searching and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,

Ecclesiastes 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 3:6

A time to get, and a time to lose
To get substance, as the Targum, and to lose it; wealth and riches, honour and glory, wisdom and knowledge: or, "to seek, and to lose" ^F9; a time when the sheep of the house of Israel, or God's elect, were lost, and a time to seek them again; which was, lone by Christ in redemption, and by the Spirit of God, in effectual calling; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
to keep a thing, and to cast it away, into the sea, in the time of a great tempest, as the Targum; as did the mariners in the ship in which Jonah was, and those in which the Apostle Paul was, ( Jonah 1:5 ) ( Acts 27:38 ) ; It may be interpreted of keeping riches, and which are sometimes kept too close, and to the harm of the owners of them; and of scattering them among the poor, or casting them upon the waters; see ( Ecclesiastes 5:13 ) ( 11:1 ) ( Proverbs 11:24 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (vqbl te) "tempus quaerendi", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Piscator, Mercerus, Gejerus, Rambachius.

Ecclesiastes 3:6 In-Context

4 a time for crying and a time for laughing, a time for mourning and a time for dancing,

5 a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones, a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,

6 a time for searching and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,

7 a time for tearing and a time for repairing, a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,

8 a time for loving and a time for hating, a time for war and a time for peace.