Ecclesiastes 3:9

Ecclesiastes 3:9 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
• New International Version (NIV)What do workers gain from their toil?
• English Standard Version (ESV)What gain has the worker from his toil?
• New King James Version (NKJV)What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?

Context of Ecclesiastes 3:9

7A time to rend, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh from that wherein he laboureth? 10I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of men to toil in. 11He hath made everything beautiful in its time; also he hath set the world in their heart, so that man findeth not out from the beginning to the end the work that God doeth.

Ecclesiastes 3:9 word by word

מַה־יִּתְרוֹן֙ הָֽעוֹשֶׂ֔ה בַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר ה֥וּא עָמֵֽל׃Read the interlinear

• profitיִתְרוֹןyithrôn · advantageH3504

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 3:9

• Ecclesiastes 1:3What profit hath man of all his labour wherewith he laboureth under the sun?
• Ecclesiastes 2:11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that it had cost me to do [them]; and behold, all was vanity and pursuit of the wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
• Ecclesiastes 5:16And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came so doth he go away, and what profit hath he, in having laboured for the wind?
• Proverbs 14:23In all labour there is profit; but the talk of the lips [tendeth] only to want.
• Matthew 16:26For what does a man profit, if he should gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 3:9

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9What profit hath he - What real good, what solid pleasure, is derived from all the labors of man? Necessity drives him to the principal part of his cares and toils; he labors 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 labors and expedients, which perplex and often destroy them. He, then, who lives…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9gain from his toil?: See Ecclesiastes 3:12–13.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. But these earthly pursuits, while lawful in their season, are "unprofitable" when made by man, what God never intended them to be, the chief good. Solomon had tried to create an artificial forced joy, at times when he ought rather to have been serious; the result, therefore, of his labor to be happy, out of God's order, was disappointment. "A time to plant" (Ec 3:2) refers to his planting (Ec 2:5); "laugh" (Ec 3:4), to Ec 2:1, 2; "his mirth,"…Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Dance
• Judge
• Providence
• Synagogue, the Great

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings