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Wednesday, October 30th, 2024
the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Read the Bible

The NET Bible®

Ecclesiastes 3:9

What benefit can a worker gain from his toil?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- The Topic Concordance - Time;   War/weapons;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Wisdom literature;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Time;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Garden;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, Book of;   Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ecclesiastes;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Providence;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Judgment, Divine;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for September 23;  

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
What do people really get for all their hard work?
Update Bible Version
What profit has he that works in that wherein he labors?
New Century Version
Do people really gain anything from their work?
Webster's Bible Translation
What profit hath he that worketh in that in which he laboreth?
World English Bible
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
Amplified Bible
What profit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
English Standard Version
What gain has the worker from his toil?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
What hath a man more of his trauel?
English Revised Version
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
Berean Standard Bible
What does the worker gain from his toil?
Contemporary English Version
What do we gain by all of our hard work?
American Standard Version
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?
Complete Jewish Bible
What does the worker gain from his efforts?
Darby Translation
What profit hath he that worketh from that wherein he laboureth?
Easy-to-Read Version
Do people really gain anything from their hard work?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
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?
New Life Bible
What does the worker get for his work?
New Revised Standard
What gain have the workers from their toil?
Geneva Bible (1587)
What profite hath hee that worketh of the thing wherein he trauaileth?
George Lamsa Translation
What profit has the worker in his labor?
Good News Translation
What do we gain from all our work?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
What profit hath he that worketh, in that wherein, himself, hath toiled?
Douay-Rheims Bible
What hath man more of his labour?
Revised Standard Version
What gain has the worker from his toil?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
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?
Christian Standard Bible®
What does the worker gain from his struggles?
Hebrew Names Version
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?
Lexham English Bible
What does the worker gain in his toil?
Literal Translation
What advantage has he who works in that which he did as a laborer?
Young's Literal Translation
What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
What hath a ma els (that doth eny thinge) but weerynesse and laboure?
THE MESSAGE
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.
New American Standard Bible
What benefit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
New King James Version
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
Legacy Standard Bible
What advantage is there to the worker from that in which he labors?

Contextual Overview

1 For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. 5 A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7 A time to rip, and a time to sew; a time to keep silent, and a time to speak. 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 9 What benefit can a worker gain from his toil? 10 I have observed the burden that God has given to people to keep them occupied.

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 whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it."
Genesis 3:13
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."
Genesis 3:17
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.
Genesis 3:19
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."
Genesis 3:20
The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Genesis 3:21
The Lord God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
Genesis 4:9
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" And he replied, "I don't know! Am I my brother's guardian?"
Genesis 11:5
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building.
Genesis 16:8
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.


 
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