Ecclesiastes 3 · Verse 9

Ecclesiastes 3:9

What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
Ecclesiastes 3:9, King James Version

Ecclesiastes 3:9 in other translations

BSBWhat does the worker gain from his toil?
WEBWhat profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
ASVWhat profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
YLTWhat advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?
DARBYWhat profit hath he that worketh from that wherein he laboureth?
BBEWhat profit has the worker in the work which he does?
WebsterWhat profit hath he that worketh in that in which he laboreth?

What does Ecclesiastes 3:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
9. 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," "laughter"; "build up," "gather stones" (Ec 3:3, 5), to his "building" (Ec 2:4); "embrace," "love," to his "princess" (see on Ec 2:8); "get" (perhaps also "gather," Ec 3:5, 6), to his "gathering" (Ec 2:8). All these were of "no profit," because not in God's time and order of bestowing happiness.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 9 What 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 without God, travails in pain all his days.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes 3:1-10

The changes of human affairs. (Eccl. 3:1-10) The Divine counsels unchangeable. (Eccl. 3:11-15) The vanity of worldly power. (Eccl. 3:16-22) Verses 1-10 To expect unchanging happiness in a changing world, must end in disappointment. To bring ourselves to our state in life, is our duty and wisdom in this world. God's whole plan for the government of the world will be found altogether wise, just, and good. Then let us…

Read the full comment on Ecclesiastes 3:1-10 →

Ecclesiastes 3:9 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

מַה\־mah-what?H4100
יִּתְרוֹן֙yit.rOn[is] [the] profit ofH3504
הָֽעוֹשֶׂ֔הha.'o.Sehthe workerH6213
בַּאֲשֶׁ֖רba.'a.Sherin [that] whichH834
ה֥וּאhu'heH1931
עָמֵֽל\׃'a.Mel[is] a laborerH6001

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Ecclesiastes 3:9

  • Ecclesiastes 1:3

    What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

  • Proverbs 14:23

    In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

  • Ecclesiastes 5:16

    And 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?

  • Ecclesiastes 2:22-23

    For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

  • Matthew 16:26

    For 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?

  • Ecclesiastes 2:11

    Then 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.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:3; 2:11,22,23; 5:16; Pr 14:23; Mt 16:26

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Ecclesiastes 3:8

    A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

  • Ecclesiastes 3:9

    What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

  • Ecclesiastes 3:10

    I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 3

Ecclesiastes 3:9 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		¿Qué provecho tiene el que trabaja en lo que trabaja?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Celui qui agit, quel profit a-t-il de ce à quoi il travaille?
German
Elberfelder 1871		Was für einen Gewinn hat der Schaffende bei dem, womit er sich abmüht?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quid habet amplius homo de labore suo?