A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
Parallel translations
- WEB a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
- BSB a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
- NKJV A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
- NASB A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak.
- NLT A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
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 tear and to sew, to keep silent and to speak. Even speech and silence have their fitting seasons.
Overview
Tearing and sewing may evoke mourning customs followed by restoration, paired with knowing when to speak or stay silent. The verse highlights the wisdom of timely speech and restraint. Scripture elsewhere commends words 'fitly spoken,' and this poem reminds us that discerning the right time is itself a mark of godly wisdom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 29
- Mic 7:5Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
- Amos 5:13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
- Esth 4:13–14Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.
- Lam 3:28He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
- Acts 4:20For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
- Prov 31:8–9Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
- Job 32:4–22Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he.
- Joel 2:13And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
- Esth 7:4For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage.
- Prov 24:11–12If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
- 1 Sam 25:24–44And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
- Isa 36:21But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
- 2 Kgs 5:7And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
- 2 Kgs 6:30And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.
- Luke 19:37–40And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
- Ps 39:2I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
- 1 Kgs 21:27And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
- Amos 8:3And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
- Gen 37:34And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
- Gen 37:29And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
- 2 Sam 1:11Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him:
- 2 Sam 3:31And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier.
- Gen 44:18Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.
- Job 2:13So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.
- Jer 36:24Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
- Acts 9:39Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.
- Gen 44:34For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.
- 1 Sam 19:4–5And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:
- Jer 8:14Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
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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 3:7 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
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