Ecclesiastes 3:9
in Ecclesiastes 3What does the worker gain from his toil?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
KJV
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 3
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
This site's exposition
What profit hath he that worketh
on Ecclesiastes 3:9-10
The refrain question returns from chapter one, what profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth, now asked against the ordered times just listed rather than against wealth or wisdom. The travail itself is named as something God has given the sons of men to be exercised in, not an accident of labour but its assigned burden. Bridges reads the travail as intentional discipline, the toil that trains a creature living inside times he did not set and cannot see the end of.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"What gain, then, has the worker in exchange for all his toil? I have observed the task which God has given the sons of man to be concerned with: He made everything beautiful in its time; He has also put an enigma into their minds so that man cannot comprehend what God has done from the beginning to end."
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Art. 2. Our curiosity is reproved in two ways. What more has man, etc. He showed above the variety of things according to diverse times; here secondly from this he reproves human curiosity: and he does this indeed in this order. First he suggests the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): What profit has he that works? What can a man promise himself from planting and building, when that which he thinks is brought to perfection may so soon, and will so surely, be plucked up and broken down?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? That is, he has none.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
I saw the painful business and punishment which the Lord gave to the children of men who are wicked, to afflict them therewith.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יִּתְרוֹן֙ | yitron | [is] [the] profit of | H3504 → | 10 times |
| הָֽעוֹשֶׂ֔ה | haoseh | the worker | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר | baasher | in [that] which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| ה֥וּא | hu' | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| עָמֵֽל׃ | ʾamel | [is] a laborer | H6001 → | 9 times |
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
יִּתְרוֹן֙[is] [the] profit of
yitronH3504 →10 times
הָֽעוֹשֶׂ֔הthe worker
haosehH6213 →2628 times
בַּאֲשֶׁ֖רin [that] which
baasherH834 →5497 times
ה֥וּאhe
hu'H1931 →1879 times
עָמֵֽל׃[is] a laborer
ʾamelH6001 →9 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 14:23There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:19
The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
- Proverbs 12:24
The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:10–12
For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”
- Hebrews 6:10–11
For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.
- Ecclesiastes 5:3
As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.
- Proverbs 28:19
Through
Ecclesiastes 2:11Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to…
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 1:3
What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ecclesiastes 1:14
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
- Ecclesiastes 1:3
Through
Ecclesiastes 1:3What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
it leads to
- John 6:27
Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 6:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.