Ecclesiastes3:3

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Translation

a time to kill

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and a time to heal, a time to break through

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and a time to repair

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Paraphrase

There are times in life when extreme measures are  necessary, but you can’t stay in that mode, you also need to know how and when to restore; there are times when we need to break down someone’s defenses, and times when we need to build up someone’s defenses.

Footnotes

1

Solomon’s father, David, knew only one way of expanding the kingdom and that was through warfare.

2

The foundational idea behind “break through” was most often used of breaking through a city wall, i.e. penetrating a city’s protection.

3: "Repair/build up"

Solomon was well known for the cities he fortified, and for the fact that he did not use warfare as his tactic. He may be saying here something to this effect, “It was not all bad that my father relied on warfare because there are times when that is necessary, but there are also times when one must focus on building up his defensive protection. There is a time to go on the offensive, and a time to focus on defense.”