Ecclesiastes 3:8 (ASV)

Passage

a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Nearby Context

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.

Ecclesiastes 3:9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?

Ecclesiastes 3:10 I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "a time to rend and a time..." into verse 9's "What profit hath he that worketh in...", so "time" and "love" 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 "love" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.