Ecclesiastes 3:8

World English Bible (2000)

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

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

עֵ֤ת לֶֽאֱהֹב֙ וְעֵ֣ת לִשְׂנֹ֔א עֵ֥ת מִלְחָמָ֖ה וְעֵ֥ת שָׁלֽוֹם׃ ס

Transliteration

ʿēt to-leʾĕhōḇ wə-ʿēt to-liśnōʾ, ʿēt milḥāmâ wə-ʿēt šālôm

Grammar Details

• *ʿēt*: noun, feminine singular construct - time of
• *le*: preposition prefix - to/for
• *ʾĕhōḇ*: verb, qal infinitive construct - to love
• *wə*: conjunction - and
• *liśnōʾ*: verb, qal infinitive construct - to hate
• *milḥāmâ*: noun, feminine singular - war
• *šālôm*: noun, masculine singular - peace

Word Meanings

• *ʾĕhōḇ*: to love/like
• *śnōʾ*: to hate/detest
• *milḥāmâ*: war/battle/fighting
• *šālôm*: peace/completeness/welfare/friendship

Referenced Verses

• Luke 14:26 : 26 "If anyone comes to me, and doesn't disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can't be my disciple.
• Eph 5:25 : 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;
• Eph 5:28-29 : 28 Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29 For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly;
• Titus 2:4 : 4 that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
• Rev 2:2 : 2 "I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can't tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false.
• Eph 3:19 : 19 and to know Christ's love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
• Gen 14:14-17 : 14 When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. 15 He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 16 He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. 17 The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).
• Josh 8:1-9 : 1 Yahweh said to Joshua, "Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except its spoil and its livestock, you shall take for a plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it." 3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night. 4 He commanded them, saying, "Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don't go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. 5 I, and all the people who are with me, will approach to the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. 6 They will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, 'They flee before us, like the first time.' So we will flee before them, 7 and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand. 8 It shall be, when you have seized on the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to the word of Yahweh. Behold, I have commanded you." 9 Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night. 10 Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. 12 He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. 13 So they set the people, even all the army who was on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14 It happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn't know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. 17 There was not a man left in Ai or Beth El who didn't go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel. 18 Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it. They hurried and set the city on fire. 20 When the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. The people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and killed the men of Ai. 22 The others came out of the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. 23 They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua. 24 It happened, when Israel had made an end of killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned to Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 26 For Joshua didn't draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey to themselves, according to the word of Yahweh which he commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day. 29 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening, and at the sundown Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.
• Josh 11:23 : 23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. The land had rest from war.
• 2 Sam 10:6-9 : 6 When the children of Ammon saw that they were become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men. 7 When David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of the mighty men. 8 The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate: and the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. 9 Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: 10 The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and he put them in array against the children of Ammon. 11 He said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. 12 Be courageous, and let us be strong for our people, and for the cities of our God; and Yahweh do that which seems good to him." 13 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him. 14 When the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, and entered into the city. Then Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. 15 When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. 16 Hadadezer sent, and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head. 17 It was told David; and he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him. 18 The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of the Syrians [the men of] seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the captain of their army, so that he died there. 19 When all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.
• 1 Kgs 5:4 : 4 But now Yahweh my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence.
• 2 Chr 19:2 : 2 Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, "Should you help the wicked, and love those who hate Yahweh? Because of this, wrath is on you from before Yahweh.
• 2 Chr 20:1-9 : 1 It happened after this, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2 Then some came who told Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea from Syria. Behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar" (that is, En Gedi). 3 Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and set himself to seek to Yahweh. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 Judah gathered themselves together, to seek help from Yahweh. They came out of all the cities of Judah to seek Yahweh. 5 Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Yahweh, before the new court; 6 and he said, "Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren't you God in heaven? Aren't you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so that no one is able to withstand you. 7 Didn't you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham your friend forever? 8 They lived in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, 9 'If evil comes on us--the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine--we will stand before this house, and before you, (for your name is in this house), and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.' 10 Now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and didn't destroy them; 11 behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. 12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do, but our eyes are on you." 13 All Judah stood before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. 14 Then the Spirit of Yahweh came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly; 15 and he said, "Listen, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat. Thus says Yahweh to you, 'Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz. You shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight this battle. Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Don't be afraid, nor be dismayed. Go out against them tomorrow, for Yahweh is with you.'" 18 Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshipping Yahweh. 19 The Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise Yahweh, the God of Israel, with an exceeding loud voice. 20 They rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Yahweh your God, so you shall be established! Believe his prophets, so you shall prosper." 21 When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who should sing to Yahweh, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks to Yahweh; for his loving kindness endures forever. 22 When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck. 23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to kill and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another. 24 When Judah came to the place overlooking the wilderness, they looked at the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none who escaped. 25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. 26 On the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Beracah; for there they blessed Yahweh: therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Beracah to this day. 27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for Yahweh had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28 They came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets to the house of Yahweh. 29 The fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that Yahweh fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet; for his God gave him rest all around.
• Ps 139:21 : 21 Yahweh, don't I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
• Ezek 16:8 : 8 Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Yahweh, and you became mine.