--- title: "Ecclesiastes 3 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary" description: "Read Ecclesiastes 3 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to p" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/ecclesiastes/3" --- [ Read](/kjv/ecclesiastes/3)[ Commentary](/study/ecclesiastes/3)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/ecclesiastes/3) Audio 1 To every *thing there is* a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up *that which is* planted;* 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;* 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;* 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? 10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11 He hath made every *thing* beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that *there is* no good in them, but for *a man* to rejoice, and to do good in his life. 13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it *is* the gift of God. 14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth *it*, that *men* should fear before him. 15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.* 16 ¶ And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, *that* wickedness *was* there; and the place of righteousness, *that* iniquity *was* there. 17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for *there is* a time there for every purpose and for every work. 18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.* 19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all *is* vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?** 22 Wherefore I perceive that *there is* nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that *is* his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? [Ecclesiastes 2](/study/ecclesiastes/2) [Ecclesiastes 4](/study/ecclesiastes/4) ## Commentary To verse 1 Verse [Ecclesiastes 3:1](/kjv/ecclesiastes/3/1). ***To every*****thing there is*****a season, and a time to every**********purpose*** — *Two* general remarks may be made on the first *eight* verses of this chapter. 1. God by his providence governs the world, and has determined particular *things* and operations to particular *times*. In those times such things may be done with propriety and success; but if we neglect the appointed seasons, we sin against this providence, and become the authors of our own distresses. 2. God has given to man that portion of duration called TIME; the space in which all the operations of nature, of animals, and intellectual beings, are carried on; but while nature is steady in its course, and animals faithful to their instincts, man devotes it to a great variety of purposes; but very frequently to that for which God never made *time, space*, or *opportunity*. And all we can say, when an evil deed is done, is, there was a *time* in which it was done, though God never made *it* for that purpose. To say any farther on this subject is needless, as the words themselves give in general their own meaning. The Jews, it is true, see in these *times* and *seasons* all the events of their own nation, from the birth of Abraham to the present times; and as to *fathers* and their followers, they see all the events and states of the Christian Church in them! It is worthy of remark, that in all this list there are but *two* things which may be said to be done generally by the disposal of God, and in which men can have but little influence: the *time of* *birth*, and the *time of death*. But all the others are left to the option of man, though God continues to overrule them by his providence. 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