Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, August 7th, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Read the Bible
THE MESSAGE
Ecclesiastes 3:9
But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I've had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he's coming or going. I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift.
Jump to:Bible Study Tools • Parallel Bible Verse • Bible Contextual Overview • Bible Cross-References • Gill's Bible Notes • Clarke's Bible Notes
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- TheDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalDevotionals:
- EveryParallel Translations
Christian Standard Bible®
What does the worker gain from his struggles?
What does the worker gain from his struggles?
Hebrew Names Version
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
King James Version
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
English Standard Version
What gain has the worker from his toil?
What gain has the worker from his toil?
New American Standard Bible
What benefit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
What benefit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
New Century Version
Do people really gain anything from their work?
Do people really gain anything from their work?
Amplified Bible
What profit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
What profit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
World English Bible
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
Geneva Bible (1587)
What profite hath hee that worketh of the thing wherein he trauaileth?
What profite hath hee that worketh of the thing wherein he trauaileth?
Legacy Standard Bible
What advantage is there to the worker from that in which he labors?
What advantage is there to the worker from that in which he labors?
Berean Standard Bible
What does the worker gain from his toil?
What does the worker gain from his toil?
Contemporary English Version
What do we gain by all of our hard work?
What do we gain by all of our hard work?
Complete Jewish Bible
What does the worker gain from his efforts?
What does the worker gain from his efforts?
Darby Translation
What profit hath he that worketh from that wherein he laboureth?
What profit hath he that worketh from that wherein he laboureth?
Easy-to-Read Version
Do people really gain anything from their hard work?
Do people really gain anything from their hard work?
George Lamsa Translation
What profit has the worker in his labor?
What profit has the worker in his labor?
Good News Translation
What do we gain from all our work?
What do we gain from all our work?
Lexham English Bible
What does the worker gain in his toil?
What does the worker gain in his toil?
Literal Translation
What advantage has he who works in that which he did as a laborer?
What advantage has he who works in that which he did as a laborer?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
What hath a ma els (that doth eny thinge) but weerynesse and laboure?
What hath a ma els (that doth eny thinge) but weerynesse and laboure?
American Standard Version
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
Bible in Basic English
What profit has the worker in the work which he does?
What profit has the worker in the work which he does?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
What profit hath he that worketh in that he laboureth?
What profit hath he that worketh in that he laboureth?
King James Version (1611)
What profite hath hee that worketh, in that wherein he laboureth?
What profite hath hee that worketh, in that wherein he laboureth?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
What hath a man els that doth any thyng, but weerinesse and labour?
What hath a man els that doth any thyng, but weerinesse and labour?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
What advantage has he that works in those things wherein he labours?
What advantage has he that works in those things wherein he labours?
English Revised Version
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
What hath a man more of his trauel?
What hath a man more of his trauel?
Update Bible Version
What profit has he that works in that wherein he labors?
What profit has he that works in that wherein he labors?
Webster's Bible Translation
What profit hath he that worketh in that in which he laboreth?
What profit hath he that worketh in that in which he laboreth?
New English Translation
What benefit can a worker gain from his toil?
What benefit can a worker gain from his toil?
New King James Version
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
New Living Translation
What do people really get for all their hard work?
What do people really get for all their hard work?
New Life Bible
What does the worker get for his work?
What does the worker get for his work?
New Revised Standard
What gain have the workers from their toil?
What gain have the workers from their toil?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
What profit hath he that worketh, in that wherein, himself, hath toiled?
What profit hath he that worketh, in that wherein, himself, hath toiled?
Douay-Rheims Bible
What hath man more of his labour?
What hath man more of his labour?
Revised Standard Version
What gain has the worker from his toil?
What gain has the worker from his toil?
Young's Literal Translation
What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?
What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
Contextual Overview
1 There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: 2A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct, A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer, A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go, A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up, A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace. 9But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I've had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he's coming or going. I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift.
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 2:22, Ecclesiastes 2:23, Ecclesiastes 5:16, Proverbs 14:23, Matthew 16:26
Cross-References
Genesis 3:12
The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it." God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"
The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it." God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"
Genesis 3:13
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
Genesis 3:17
He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."
He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."
Genesis 3:20
The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.
The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.
Genesis 3:21
God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
Genesis 4:9
God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"
God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"
Genesis 11:5
God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?] That is, he has none. This is an inference drawn from the above premises, and confirms what has been before observed, Ecclesiastes 1:3; Man has no profit of his labour, since his time is so short to enjoy it, and he leaves it to another, he knows not who; and, while he lives, is attended with continual vicissitudes and changes; sometimes it is a time for one thing, and sometimes for its contrary, so that there is nothing certain, and to be depended on; and a man can promise himself nothing in this world pleasant or profitable to him, and much less that will be of any advantage to him hereafter. The Targum adds,
"to make treasures and gather mammon, unless he is helped by Providence above;''
though it is man's duty to labour, yet all his toil and labour will be fruitless without a divine blessing; there is a time and season for everything in providence, and there is no striving against that.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Ecclesiastes 3:9. What profit hath he — What real good, what solid pleasure, is derived from all the labours of man? Necessity drives him to the principal part of his cares and toils; he labours that he may eat and drink; and he eats and drinks that he may be preserved alive, and kept from sickness and pain. Love of money, the basest of all passions, and restless ambition, drive men to many labours and expedients, which perplex and often destroy them. He, then, who lives without God, travails in pain all his days.
