Ecclesiastes 1:3
What benefit do you get for slaving away in this life?
Free Bible Version
In The King James Version
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
In Context
2“Everything passes—it's so temporary! It's all so hard to understand!” says the Teacher.
4People come, and people go, but the earth lasts forever!
Cross References
Ecclesiastes 2:11But when I thought about what I had worked so hard to achieve, everything I'd done, it was so short-lived—as significant as someone trying to catch the wind. There really is no enduring benefit here on earth.
Ecclesiastes 2:22What do you get here on earth for all your hard work and worry?
Ecclesiastes 4:3But best of all are those who have never existed—they haven't seen the evil things people do to each other here on earth.
Ecclesiastes 5:16This also makes me sick! What do people gain, working for the wind?
Ecclesiastes 6:12Who knows what's best for us and our lives? During our short lives that pass like shadows we have many unanswered questions. And who can tell us what will happen when we're gone?
Ecclesiastes 8:15So I recommend enjoying life. There's nothing better for us here on earth than to eat and drink and be happy. Such an attitude will go with us as we work, and as we live our lives that God gives us here on earth.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
Ecclesiastes We are still among Solomon's happy men, his happy servants, that stood continually before him to hear his wisdom; and they are the choicest of all the dictates of his wisdom, such as were more immediately given by divine inspiration, that are here transmitted to us, not to be heard, as by them, but once, and then liable to be mistaken or forgotten, and by repetition to lose their beauty, but to be read, reviewed, revolved, and had in everlasting remembrance. The account we have of Solomon's apostasy… Read the whole commentary →