10 Key Bible Verses on Time

This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.

All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible.

1. Ephesians 5:15–16

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Read More

The truth must not be used as a club to bludgeon people into acceptance and obedience but must always be presented in love. The truth leads the Christian to maturity, which is defined here as growing up into Christ. As head, Christ leads, directs, and guides the body (Eph. 5:23; 1 Cor. 11:3).

2. James 4:13–15

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Read More

trade and make a profit. On the surface this sounds like good business sense, but it masks a secular worldview that ignores God. These people are probably Christians belonging to the wealthy merchant class, whereas the rich people mentioned in James 5:1–6 are probably not believers (cf. James 2:6–7).

you. These business people think they control events but fail to recognize God’s providential control and the temporary nature of life, which is like a mist that can fade away at any moment. Planning and investing are not wrong, but arrogant self-confidence and boasting are.

The key to James 4:13–17 is if the Lord wills, with “Lord” referring to Yahweh as the Creator who sustains the universe and whose will controls all that happens. Every business decision must be based on submission to God’s will.

ESV Study Bible

The ESV Study Bible—created by a diverse team of 95 leading Bible scholars and teachers—features 20,000 study notes, 80,000 cross–references, 200+ charts, 50+ articles, 240 full–color maps and illustrations, and more.

3. Psalm 90:10–12

The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom. Read More

seventy . . . eighty. This gives an “ordinary” life span; many live fewer years (due to violence, accident, and disease), and a few live longer (e.g., Joseph, Gen. 50:26; Moses, Deut. 34:7; Joshua, Josh. 24:29). In any case, it is much briefer than a thousand years (Ps. 90:4), let alone God’s eternity.

your wrath according to the fear of you. God’s wrath toward his unfaithful people is in accordance with the “fear” (reverence, faith, and humble, holiness-seeking love) that they ought to have toward him (cf. note on Prov. 1:7).

teach us to number our days. In view of the theme of the psalm, this refers especially to the ability to make the most of one’s days, since they are so few. The heart of wisdom would enable the faithful to live by the right priorities (cf. the “fear” of God, Psalm 90:11).

4. 2 Peter 3:8–9

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Read More

The Lord’s Patience Determines the Timing of His Return. The Lord’s perspective on time is different from that of humans. It is not that God is slow in fulfilling his promise, but rather that he is patient.

Beloved introduces a new paragraph. Peter explains that the delay of the second coming is not a long time from God’s perspective. He then explains further that the delay is also because God is patient, and he has not quickly brought the present period of history to an end because he does not wish that any should perish. Though Christians long for Christ’s return and the defeat of all evil, as long as the present period of history lasts, an opportunity remains for people to turn to God in faith.

5. Colossians 4:5–6

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Read More

Good Behavior toward Those Outside the Community. Paul encourages the Colossians to manifest a powerful and attractive testimony to non-Christians. seasoned with salt. This statement echoes the teaching of Jesus when he called his disciples to be “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13). When applied to conversation, the metaphor suggests speaking in an interesting, stimulating, and wise way. Paul’s comments assume that the Colossian believers are vitally involved in the local community and have ample opportunities to interact with outsiders in a way that would commend the gospel to them.

6. Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Read More

Despite the repetitiveness of the natural world (Eccles. 1:4–11), the Preacher can see that God has made everything beautiful in its time. The problem is that God has also placed eternity (that is, a sense that life continues beyond this present existence) into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. The word “find,” or “find out” (Hb. matsa) has the sense of “figure out, comprehend by study” in this verse and other places in the book (Eccl. 7:14, Eccl. 7:24, Eccl. 7:26, Eccl. 7:27, Eccl. 7:28, Eccl. 7:29; 8:17). The Preacher thus realizes that both his desire to understand all of life, as well as the limitations on his ability to do so, have been ordained by God.

7. 1 Thessalonians 5:1–3

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. Read More

Now concerning. Paul may be responding to a question from the Thessalonians communicated by Timothy. the times and the seasons. That is, when the day of the Lord will occur (cf. Acts 1:7). The Thessalonians’ question likely arose more from anxiety than idle curiosity, since Paul’s answer reassures rather than rebukes them and seems concerned with both the “how” and the “when” of the day of the Lord. you have no need to have anything written to you. In spite of what the Thessalonians apparently think, there is no real need for Paul to write them on this matter.

The phrase day of the Lord is common in the OT Prophets (see note on Amos 5:18–20). It refers to the great and terrible day when Yahweh will intervene to punish the disobedient (e.g., Isa. 13:6–16; Joel 1:13–15; 2:1–11; Obad. 15–20; Mal. 4:5) and to save the faithful (e.g., Isa. 27:2–13; Jer. 30:8–9; Joel 2:31–32; Obad. 21). In Paul’s letters it is equated with the second coming. like a thief in the night. Throughout the NT, the thief simile suggests unexpectedness and unwelcomeness (Matt. 24:43–44; Luke 12:39–40; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16:15). The negative aspect is clearly present in 1 Thess. 5:4, and there is no reason to think that it is absent here. However, although some have wondered whether Paul is threatening the Thessalonians with the prospect of final judgment, it seems more likely, in view of vv. 4 and 9, that he is actually reassuring believers who are insecure, perhaps as a result of the recent deaths in their midst. people. That is, unbelievers. peace and security. Possibly an allusion to imperial Roman propaganda or (perhaps more likely) to Jer. 6:14 (or Jer. 8:11), where similar language is used of a delusional sense of immunity from divine wrath. labor pains. An analogy referring to the judgment and destruction on the day of the Lord. Cf. Isa. 13:8; Jer. 6:24.

8. Psalm 39:5–6

Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! Read
More

My Fleeting Life. The singer prays to know his end, and how fleeting he is, i.e., the brevity of human life. To really know this would protect him from wasting his life in turmoil that results when one heaps up wealth; there truly is a wiser way to live.

9. Acts 1:7

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Read More

the Father has fixed by his own authority. Ultimate authority in determining the events of history is consistently ascribed to God the Father among the persons of the Trinity.

10. Ecclesiastes 3:1–8

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace. Read More

Poem: A Time for Everything. There is an appropriate occasion for every human event or activity; life is endlessly complex. Several of the items mentioned in this poem have already been examined by the Preacher (e.g., compare Eccl. 3:2 “a time to die” with Eccl. 2:14–17; Eccl. 3:2 “a time to plant” and v. 3 “a time to build up” with Eccl. 2:4–5).

a time to lose. To give up looking for a lost item.

a time to hate. While love for one’s neighbor is the norm for biblical ethics (Lev. 19:18; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8), there is also a righteous anger that is legitimate under the appropriate circumstances (see Ps. 15:4; Ps. 26:5; Ps. 31:6; Ps. 139:21–22).