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

7There is a time to tear our clothes. There is a time to mend them. There is a time to say nothing. There is a time to speak. 8There is a time to love. There is a time to hate. There is a time for war. There is a time for peace. People work very hard, but what do they receive in return? 10I have seen the difficult work that God has given people to do. He has caused them to be very busy. 11God has chosen a good time for all things to happen. He has caused people to think about things that will continue for ever. But nobody can completely understand everything that God has done, from the beginning of their lives to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:9 word by word

מַה־יִּתְרוֹן֙ הָֽעוֹשֶׂ֔ה בַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר ה֥וּא עָמֵֽל׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• What profitיִתְרוֹןyithrôn · advantageH3504
• hath he that workethעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
• in that whereinבַאֲשֶׁר'ăsher · in whichH834
• he labourethעָמֵל‛âmêl · laboriousH6001

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 3:9

• Ecclesiastes 1:3People work very hard while they live on the earth. But in the end, what do they receive in return for their work?
• Ecclesiastes 2:11Then I thought about everything that I had done, and all my hard work. After all that, I realized that none of these things had a purpose. I was like somebody who tries to catch the wind. None of the things on earth have any value.
• Ecclesiastes 5:16This is also a terrible thing to happen. People leave this earth with nothing, as they came into it with nothing. All their hard work has been useless, like someone who tries to catch the wind.
• Proverbs 14:23If you work hard, something good will come. But if you only talk about it, you will become poor.
• Matthew 16:26A person may get everything in the whole world for himself. But if he loses his life, it will not be any good for him. There is nothing that a person can give to get back his life.

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
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• 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