the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Read the Bible
The NET Bible®
Ecclesiastes 3:9
Bible Study Resources
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What do people really get for all their hard work?
What profit has he that works in that wherein he labors?
Do people really gain anything from their work?
What profit hath he that worketh in that in which he laboreth?
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
What profit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
What gain has the worker from his toil?
What hath a man more of his trauel?
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
What does the worker gain from his toil?
What do we gain by all of our hard work?
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
What profit has the worker in the work which he does?
What does the worker gain from his efforts?
What profit hath he that worketh from that wherein he laboureth?
Do people really gain anything from their hard work?
What profit hath he that worketh in that he laboureth?
What profite hath hee that worketh, in that wherein he laboureth?
What does the worker get for his work?
What gain have the workers from their toil?
What profite hath hee that worketh of the thing wherein he trauaileth?
What profit has the worker in his labor?
What do we gain from all our work?
What profit hath he that worketh, in that wherein, himself, hath toiled?
What hath man more of his labour?
What gain has the worker from his toil?
What hath a man els that doth any thyng, but weerinesse and labour?
What advantage has he that works in those things wherein he labours?
What does the worker gain from his struggles?
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
What does the worker gain in his toil?
What advantage has he who works in that which he did as a laborer?
What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?
What hath a ma els (that doth eny thinge) but weerynesse and laboure?
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.
What benefit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
What advantage is there to the worker from that in which he labors?
Contextual Overview
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
The man said, "The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it."
So the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman replied, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."
But to Adam he said, "Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return."
The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
The Lord God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" And he replied, "I don't know! Am I my brother's guardian?"
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building.
He said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She replied, "I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai."
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.