Ecclesiastes 1:3
What profit hath a man by all his labor with which he wearieth himself under the sun?
Noyes Bible
In The King James Version
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
In Context
2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; while the earth abideth for ever.
Cross References
Ecclesiastes 2:11Then I looked upon all the works which my hands had wrought, and upon all the labor which I had toiled in performing; and, behold, it was all vanity, and striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:22For what hath man of all his labor, and the striving of his spirit, with which he wearieth himself under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 4:3Yea, better than both of them is he who hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work which is done under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 5:16This is also a sore evil, that, in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit is there to him who toileth for wind?
Ecclesiastes 6:12For who knoweth what is good for man in life, in all the days of his vain life, which he spendeth as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 8:15Then I commended joy; because nothing is good for a man under the sun, except to eat and to drink and to be joyful; for it is this that abideth with him for his labor during the days of his life which God giveth him under the sun.
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 →