Sip #1 – Read Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes in the NIV translation
Sip #2 – Read my big takeaway from the day
Sip #3 – Add comments/thoughts/questions in the Comments Box (bottom of page). NOT REQUIRED
Sip #4 – Re-read any parts of Chapter 3 that impacted you
Sip #5 – Come back tomorrow for Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4 in the NIV translation.

The song Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) was written by Pete Seeger, an influential folk singer and activist. He recorded a demo of the song around 1961, and included a live version on his 1962 album The Bitter And The Sweet with just voice and guitar. The Byrds brought it out of folk circles with their electrified 1965 version. Released as the follow-up to their #1 hit “Mr. Tambourine Man,” it also topped the chart in the US.

The lyrics were taken from a passage from our chapter of Ecclesiastes today. They were rearranged and paired with Seeger’s music to make the song. In a 1988 interview, Seeger explained: “I don’t read the Bible that often. I leaf through it occasionally and I’m amazed by the foolishness at times and the wisdom at other times. I call it the greatest book of folklore ever given. Not that there isn’t a lot of wisdom in it. You can trace the history of people poetically.” 

So, while it’s from the Bible directly, Seeger was not a Christ-follower or much of a believer in God. His main goal was writing war protest songs. When The Byrds started working on Turn! Turn! Turn!, they devised a new arrangement of Seeger’s original, but it took the band over 50 tries to get the sound right. 

Pretty interesting! Let’s do some more digging into Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3… In the first 8 verses there are pairs of 14 opposites and/or “do’s” and “don’ts” (kind of), that cover quite a few aspects of life. Some are good, countered by bad, or vice versa. Take a look at verse 5… 

“…a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them…”

I did a quick study on these two words just to see…