Ecclesiastes 1:3
Good News Translation
You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it?

New Revised Standard Version
What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?

Contemporary English Version
What is there to show for all of our hard work here on this earth?

New American Bible
What profit have we from all the toil which we toil at under the sun?

Douay-Rheims Bible
What hath a man more of all his labour, that he taketh under the sun?

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

What hath a man more of all his labour, that he taketh under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 2:22 For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he hath been tormented under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 3:9 What hath man more of his labour?

Ecclesiastes 5:16 A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?

Proverbs 23:4,5 Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence. . . .

Isaiah 55:2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which doth not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness.

Habakkuk 2:13,18 Are not these things from the Lord of hosts? for the people shall labour in a great fire: and the nations in vain, and they shall faint. . . .

Matthew 16:26 For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?

Mark 8:36,37 For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? . . .

John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you. For him hath God, the Father, sealed.

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Ecclesiastes 2:11,19 And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun. . . .

Ecclesiastes 4:3,7 And I judged him happier than them both, that is not yet born, nor hath seen the evils that are done under the sun. . . .

Ecclesiastes 5:18 This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.

Ecclesiastes 6:12 What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7:11 Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more advantage to them that see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 8:15-17 Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and that he should take nothing else with him of his labour in the days of his life, which God hath given him under the sun. . . .

Ecclesiastes 9:3,6,13 This is a very great evil among all things that are done under the sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also the hearts of the children of men are filled with evil, and with contempt while they live, and afterwards they shall be brought down to hell. . . .

Context
Everything is Futile
2Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes: vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. 3What hath a man more of all his labour, that he taketh under the sun?4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever.…
Cross References
1 Corinthians 16:16
That you also be subject to such and to every one that worketh with us and laboureth.

Ecclesiastes 2:11
And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:18
Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me,

Ecclesiastes 2:22
For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he hath been tormented under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 3:9
What hath man more of his labour?

Ecclesiastes 5:16
A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?

Ecclesiastes 1:2
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