Ecclesiastes 3:6 (ASV)

Passage

a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Nearby Context

Ecclesiastes 3:4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Ecclesiastes 3:5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Ecclesiastes 3:6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Ecclesiastes 3:7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Ecclesiastes 3:8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "time", "seek", "lose", "keep", and "cast". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "time" and "seek", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "a time to cast away stones and..." into verse 7's "a time to rend and a time...", so "time" and "seek" belong inside that flow. In Ecclesiastes context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "time" and "seek" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.