Passage

Ecclesiastes 3.10

Book: Ecclesiastes · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

8. a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 9. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?

10. I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. 12. I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live. (Ecclesiastes 3:8-12, ASV)

WEB

8. a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 9. What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?

10. I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. 12. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live. (Ecclesiastes 3:8-12, WEB)

KJV

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.

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. (Ecclesiastes 3:8-12, KJV)

YLT

8. A time to love, And a time to hate. A time of war, And a time of peace. 9. What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?

10. I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

The whole He hath made beautiful in its season; also, that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end. 12. I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life, (Ecclesiastes 3:8-12, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.