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 in that wherein he laboureth? 10I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:9 word by word

מַה־יִּתְרוֹן֙ הָֽעוֹשֶׂ֔ה בַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר ה֥וּא עָמֵֽל׃Read the interlinear

• 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 1:3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
• Ecclesiastes 2:11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
• Ecclesiastes 5:16And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?
• Proverbs 14:23In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
• Matthew 16:26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 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

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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