A time to kill may refer to God’s actions in the world, but more than likely it refers to wars between peoples. Qoheleth indicates that we don’t always go about killing, whether it be people or animals; there are times when we may have to kill, but on the whole we only kill when it is appropriate to do so.

A time to heal is the opposite of the previous saying. It indicates that bringing healing to individuals or to situations also occurs at appropriate times.

Thus we may translate “there are times when we may kill, and there are times when we can bring healing.” Again the emphasis is on actions appropriate to their time. In those cultures where the objects of verbs such as “kill” or “heal” should be expressed or defined, then the object should be in its most general form, such as “people.”

A time to break down: the verb break down is generally used in the context of destroying some structure, and it may be necessary to supply some object to make that clear. We have the choice of “houses” or “cities.”

A time to build up is like the previous verb in that it also does not have an object. However, almost certainly it refers to houses or cities, and so if the language requires it we may use that kind of object to illustrate the action. To build up does not always mean “rebuild,” so we can ignore the Living Bible suggestion at this point.

Additional suggestions for translation are:

• There are times when we have to tear down something, and there are times when we must build.

• We tear down [houses] at certain times and we build [houses] at certain times.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .