an appointed occasion · noun, common masculine singular absolute
time
וְעֵ֥תve.'Et
H6256
time · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
purpose
חֵ֖פֶץChe.fetz
H2656
pleasure · noun, common masculine singular absolute
heaven
הַשָּׁמָֽיִםha.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ecclesiastes 3:17 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.
Matthew 16:3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but…
Ecclesiastes 8:5-6 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.
Ecclesiastes 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that…
2 Kings 5:26 And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money,…
Proverbs 15:23 A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
2 Chronicles 33:12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
Ecclesiastes 2:3 I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 3:1-10
The scope of these verses is to show, 1. That we live in a world of changes, that the several events of time, and conditions of human life, are vastly different from one another, and yet occur promiscuously, and we are continually passing and repassing between them, as in the revolutions of every day and every year. In the wheel of nature (Jam 3:6) sometimes one spoke is uppermost and by and by the contrary; there is a constant ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning; from one extreme to the other does the fashion of this world change, ever did, and ever will. 2. That every change concerning us, with the time and season of it, is unalterably fixed and determined by a supreme power; and we must…
To every thing there is a season,.... A set determined time, when everything shall come into being, how long it shall continue, and in what circumstances; all things that have been, are, or shall be, were foreordained by God, and he has determined the times before appointed for their being, duration, and end; which times and seasons he has in his own power: there was a determined time for the whole universe, and for all persons and things in it; a settled fixed moment for the world to come into being; for it did not exist from everlasting, nor of itself, nor was formed by the fortuitous concourse of atoms, but by the wisdom and power of God; nor could it exist sooner or later than it did; it…
"Everything has its time, and every purpose under the heavens its hour." The Germ. language is poor in synonyms of time. Zckler translates: Everything has its Frist ..., but by Frist we think only of a fixed term of duration, not of a period of beginning, which, though not exclusively, is yet here primarily meant; we have therefore adopted Luther's excellent translation. Certainly זמן (from זמן, cogn. סמן, signare), belonging to the more modern Heb., means a Frist (e.g., Dan 2:16) as well as a Zeitpunkt, point of time; in the Semit. (also Assyr. simmu, simanu, with ס) it is the most common designation of the idea of time. עת is abbreviated either from ענת (ועד, to determine) or from ענת (fro…
The Church Fathers
"To everything then is its season, and a time for everything under heaven," a time to gather the goodly pearls, and a time after their gathering to find the one precious pearl, when it is fitting for a person to go away and sell all that he has in order that he may buy that pearl.
"Everything has its season, and there is a time for everything under the heavens. "He has taught in the previous verses the doubtful and changeable state of humanity; now he wants to show that all things are opposed to each other in the world, and that nothing remains forever of those things, which are under the heavens and beyond time, since the other spiritual substances are contained neither in the heavens nor in time.
It is necessary to bear in mind that for certain other tasks a particular time is allotted, according to the words of Ecclesiastes: "All things have their season." For prayer and psalmody, however, as also, indeed, for some other duties, every hour is suitable, that, while our hands are busy at their tasks, we may praise God sometimes with the tongue (when this is possible or, rather, when it is conducive to edification); or, if not, with the heart, at least, in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, as it is written. Thus in the midst of our work we can fulfill the duty of prayer, giving thanks to him who has granted strength to our hands for performing our tasks and cleverness to our minds for acquiring knowledge, and for having provided the materials, both that which is in the instruments we use and that which forms the matter of the arts in which we may be engaged, praying that the work of our hands may be directed toward its goal, the good pleasure of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Time · An appointed season — An appointed season
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven: Wisdom recognizes that everything has its own season—in human activities as in the realm of nature (see 1:3-7). A wise person will determine the appropriate time to pursue any activity (8:5). The opportunity is fleeting (Eph 5:16; Col 4:5).
Rashi on Ecclesiastes 3:1
For everything there is a season. Let not one who accumulates possessions out of vanity rejoice, for although he possesses them now, they will ultimately pass on to the righteous, only the time has not yet arrived, for everything has a set time1The word עת [=time] is repeated 29 times in this section, corresponding to the number of days in a lunar month. when it will be.2I.e., nothing is coincidental, rather there is a specific time for everything (Metsudas Dovid). Alternatively, one should not say that he has no time for Torah study or the performance of Mitzvos, because in reality לכל זמן, there is time for everything when, ועת לכל חפץ, if it is for an activity that he really desires [=חפץ…
