A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
Parallel translations
- WEB a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
- KJV A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
- BSB a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
- NASB A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
- NLT A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
There is a time to scatter stones and gather them, to embrace and to refrain. Differing actions and relationships each have their proper time.
Overview
These pairs cover practical work and human intimacy, both governed by appropriate seasons. Whether the imagery refers to fieldwork, building, or relational closeness, the point is timeliness. The verse teaches wisdom in discerning the right moment for each action, trusting that God orders even the seasons of our relationships.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Kgs 3:25They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land each man cast his stone, and filled it. They also stopped all the springs of water, and felled all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth all they left was its stones; however the men armed with slings went around it, and attacked it.
- Josh 10:27At the time of the going down of the sun, Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and threw them into the cave in which they had hidden themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.
- Josh 4:3–9and command them, saying, ‘Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you’ll camp tonight.’”
- Joel 2:16Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his room, and the bride out of her room.
- 1 Sam 21:4–5The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”
- 2 Sam 18:17–18They took Absalom and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent.
- Song 2:6–7His left hand is under my head. His right hand embraces me.
- Exod 19:15He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”
- 1 Cor 7:5Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 3:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.