Ecclesiastes 1:3
What profit hath Man, in all his toil wherewith he toileth under the sun?
The Emphasised Bible by J. B. Rotherham
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 Proclaimer, vanity of vanities! all, is vanity.
4Generation, goeth and, generation, cometh, but, the earth, unto times age-abiding, remaineth.
Cross References
Ecclesiastes 2:11When, I, looked upon all my works, which my hands had made, and on my toil, whereon I had toilsomely wrought, then lo! all, was vanity, and feeding on wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:22For what hath the man for all his toil, and for the striving of his heart,—wherein, he himself, toiled under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 4:3and, as better than both, him who had not yet come into being,—who had not seen the vexatious work, which was done under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 5:16Even this, moreover, is an incurable evil, altogether as he came, so, shall he depart,—what profit then shall he have who toileth for the wind?
Ecclesiastes 6:12For who knoweth what is good for a man throughout his life, for the number of the days of his life of vanity, seeing he will make them, like a shadow,—for who can tell a man, what shall be after him, under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 8:15Then extolled I, gladness, in that there was nothing better for a man, under the sun, than to eat and to drink, and to be glad,—since, that, should tarry with him in his toil, for the days of his life which God had given 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 →