time · noun, common both genders singular absolute
weep
לִבְכּוֹת֙liv.kOt
H1058
to weep · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
time
וְעֵ֣תve.'Et
H6256
time · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
laugh
לִשְׂח֔וֹקlis.Chok
H7832
to laugh (in pleasure or detraction) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
time
עֵ֥ת'et
H6256
time · noun, common both genders singular absolute
mourn
סְפ֖וֹדse.Fod
H5594
properly · verb, qal infinitive construct
time
וְעֵ֥תve.'Et
H6256
time · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
dance
רְקֽוֹדre.Kod
H7540
properly · verb, qal infinitive construct
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
Psalms 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
James 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Psalms 126:1-2 When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
Psalms 126:5-6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
John 16:20-22 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall…
Exodus 15:20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with danc…
Luke 1:58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
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…
mourn--namely, for the dead (Gen 23:2).
dance--as David before the ark (Sa2 6:12-14; Psa 30:11); spiritually (Mat 9:15; Luk 6:21; Luk 15:25). The Pharisees, by requiring sadness out of time, erred seriously.
John Gill on Ecclesiastes 3:4
A time to weep, and a time to laugh,.... There is a time for these things, as it goes ill or well with persons, as to their health, estate, or friends; and as it goes ill or well with kingdoms and states. The Jews wept when they were in Babylon, and their mouths were filled with laughter when their captivity was returned, Psalm 137:1; and as it goes ill or well with the church of Christ, when there are corruptions in doctrine and worship, a neglect of ordinances, declensions in faith and practice, few instances of conversion, and there are divisions and contentions, it is a time for the mourners in Zion to weep but when God creates Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy, or makes her an…
"To weep has its time, and to laugh has its time; to mourn has its time, and to dance has its time." It is possible that the author was led by the consonance from livnoth to livkoth, which immediately follows it; but the sequence of the thoughts is at the same time inwardly mediated, for sorrow kills and joy enlivens, Sir. 32:21-24. ספוד is particularly lamentation for the dead, Zac 12:10; and רקוד, dancing (in the more modern language the usual word for hholēl, kirkēr, hhāgǎg) at a marriage festival and on other festal occasions.
It is more difficult to say what leads the author to the two following pairs of contrasts: -
The Church Fathers
"A time to weep, and a time to laugh." A time to weep, when it is the time of suffering; as when the Lord also says, "Verily I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament." But to laugh, as concerns the resurrection: "For your sorrow," He says, "shall be turned into joy."
"A time for weeping and a time for laughter." Now is the time for weeping and in the future it will be the time for laughter: for "the blessed weep, since they themselves will laugh." [Luc. 6, 21.] "A time for bewailing and a time for dancing. "For this reason they are seized in the Gospel, those to whom God says " I have lamented for you and you have not moaned; I sang and you did not dance." [Luc. 7, 32.] We must moan at present so that afterwards we can dance that dance, which David danced before the arc of the covenant [Cfr II Reg. 6, 14.], and displeasing to the daughter of Saul he was more pleasing to God.
Now is the time to weep while the time to laugh consists in hope because our present sadness is a mother who begets joy which is stored up for the future. Who does not squander his life in lamentation and sullenness? He returns to his senses and realizes what he had and then lost, that is, his original condition and that which is present. Both you and I were subject neither to death nor sickness because these pernicious elements had been banished from our lives. The sun, air and God's grace belong to everyone and share his common blessing. While God freely offered us a share in every good, he did not acknowledge the sickness of avarice; neither does the person with less have reason to hate the one who has more (for such was not the case). There are other examples too innumerable to list which require lengthy explanation. I mean the honor bestowed upon the angels, our confidence in God's presence, contemplation of transcendent blessings and the incorruptible beauty of [God's] blessed nature which adorns us and is manifested by the soul's beauty in its resplendent divine image.
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
Dance — Found in Judg. 21:21, 23; Ps. 30:11; 149:3; 150:4; Jer. 31:4, 13, etc., as the translation of hul, which points to the whirling motion of Oriental sacred dances. It is the rendering of a word…
Dancing · 11:34;21:19-21; — 11:34;21:19-21;
Justification · 23:6; — 23:6;
Laughter · A time for — A time for
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).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ecclesiastes 3:2-8
We have no control over when we are born or when we die (8:8), but it is our responsibility to live wisely between those events. • plant and . . . harvest: Wise agricultural decisions must be made in the natural seasons. • In ancient Israel, the times to kill included capital punishment and war. • In times of mourning, people in the Near East would often tear their clothes. • There is a time to hate, even for God (Pss 5:5; 11:5).
Rashi on Ecclesiastes 3:4
A time to weep. On the ninth of [Menachem] Av.
And a time to laugh. In the time to come, as it is stated, “Then our mouth will be filled with laughter.”7Tehillim 126:2.
A time to mourn. In the days of mourning.
And a time to dance. With bridegrooms and brides.8The Gra explains the reason why this verse does not have parallel structure, i.e., why is does not state עת לספוד ועת לרקוד, i.e., with a lamed as in the beginning עת לבכות ועת לשחוק. He says that it hints to the halachah stated in Maseches Kesuvos 17a, that on two occasions one interrupts his Torah study [= למד], lamed, to attend a wedding [רקוד] or to attend a funeral [ספוד].
