Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

Bishop's Bible

Ecclesiastes 3:9

What hath a man els that doth any thyng, but weerinesse and labour?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- The Topic Concordance - Time;   War/weapons;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Wisdom literature;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Time;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Garden;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, Book of;   Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ecclesiastes;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Providence;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Judgment, Divine;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for September 23;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
What does the worker gain from his struggles?
Hebrew Names Version
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
King James Version
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
English Standard Version
What gain has the worker from his toil?
New American Standard Bible
What benefit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
New Century Version
Do people really gain anything from their work?
Amplified Bible
What profit is there for the worker from that in which he labors?
World English Bible
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
Geneva Bible (1587)
What profite hath hee that worketh of the thing wherein he trauaileth?
Legacy Standard Bible
What advantage is there to the worker from that in which he labors?
Berean Standard Bible
What does the worker gain from his toil?
Contemporary English Version
What do we gain by all of our hard work?
Complete Jewish Bible
What does the worker gain from his efforts?
Darby Translation
What profit hath he that worketh from that wherein he laboureth?
Easy-to-Read Version
Do people really gain anything from their hard work?
George Lamsa Translation
What profit has the worker in his labor?
Good News Translation
What do we gain from all our work?
Lexham English Bible
What does the worker gain in his toil?
Literal Translation
What advantage has he who works in that which he did as a laborer?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
What hath a ma els (that doth eny thinge) but weerynesse and laboure?
American Standard Version
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
Bible in Basic English
What profit has the worker in the work which he does?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
What profit hath he that worketh in that he laboureth?
King James Version (1611)
What profite hath hee that worketh, in that wherein he laboureth?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
What advantage has he that works in those things wherein he labours?
English Revised Version
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
What hath a man more of his trauel?
Update Bible Version
What profit has he that works in that wherein he labors?
Webster's Bible Translation
What profit hath he that worketh in that in which he laboreth?
New English Translation
What benefit can a worker gain from his toil?
New King James Version
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
New Living Translation
What do people really get for all their hard work?
New Life Bible
What does the worker get for his work?
New Revised Standard
What gain have the workers from their toil?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
What profit hath he that worketh, in that wherein, himself, hath toiled?
Douay-Rheims Bible
What hath man more of his labour?
Revised Standard Version
What gain has the worker from his toil?
Young's Literal Translation
What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?
THE MESSAGE
But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I've had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he's coming or going. I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?

Contextual Overview

1 Euery thyng hath a tyme, yea all that is vnder the heaue hath his conuenient season. 2 There is a tyme to be borne, and a tyme to dye: there is a tyme to plant, and a tyme to plucke vp the thyng that is planted. 3 A tyme to slay, and a tyme to make whole: a tyme to breake downe, and a tyme to builde vp. 4 A tyme to weepe, and a tyme to laugh: a tyme to mourne, & a tyme to daunce. 5 A tyme to cast away stones, and a tyme to gather stones together: A tyme to imbrace, and a tyme to refrayne from imbracyng. 6 A tyme to wynne, and a tyme to lose: A tyme to spare, and a tyme to spende. 7 A tyme to cut in peeces, and a tyme to sowe together: A tyme to kepe scilence, and a tyme to speake. 8 A tyme to loue, and a tyme to hate: A tyme of warre, and a tyme of peace. 9 What hath a man els that doth any thyng, but weerinesse and labour? 10 For as touchyng the trauayle and carefulnesse which God hath geuen vnto men, I see that he hath geuen it them to be exercised in it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 2:22, Ecclesiastes 2:23, Ecclesiastes 5:16, Proverbs 14:23, Matthew 16:26

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
And Adam said: The woman whom thou gauest [to be] with me, she gaue me of the tree, and I dyd eate.
Genesis 3:13
And the Lord God sayd vnto the woman: Why hast thou done this? And the woman sayde: the serpent begyled me, and I dyd eate.
Genesis 3:17
Unto Adam he sayde: Because thou hast hearkened vnto the voyce of thy wyfe, and hast eaten of the tree concernyng the whiche I commaunded thee, saying, thou shalt not eate of it, cursed is the grounde for thy sake, in sorowe shalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy lyfe.
Genesis 3:19
In the sweatte of thy face shalt thou eate thy breade, tyll thou be turned agayne into the ground, for out of it wast thou taken: For dust thou art, and into dust shalt thou be turned agayne.
Genesis 3:20
And Adam called his wyfes name Heua, because she was the mother of all lyuyng.
Genesis 3:21
Unto Adam also and to his wyfe dyd the Lorde God make garments of skynnes, and he put them on.
Genesis 4:9
And the Lorde said vnto Cain: where is Habel thy brother? Which sayde I wote not: Am I my brothers keper?
Genesis 11:5
But the Lorde came downe to see the citie and towre whiche the chyldren of men buylded.
Genesis 16:8
And he said: Hagar Sarais mayde, whence camest thou? and whither wylt thou go? She sayde: I flee fro the face of my mistresse Sarai.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?] That is, he has none. This is an inference drawn from the above premises, and confirms what has been before observed, Ecclesiastes 1:3; Man has no profit of his labour, since his time is so short to enjoy it, and he leaves it to another, he knows not who; and, while he lives, is attended with continual vicissitudes and changes; sometimes it is a time for one thing, and sometimes for its contrary, so that there is nothing certain, and to be depended on; and a man can promise himself nothing in this world pleasant or profitable to him, and much less that will be of any advantage to him hereafter. The Targum adds,

"to make treasures and gather mammon, unless he is helped by Providence above;''

though it is man's duty to labour, yet all his toil and labour will be fruitless without a divine blessing; there is a time and season for everything in providence, and there is no striving against that.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 3:9. What profit hath he — What real good, what solid pleasure, is derived from all the labours of man? Necessity drives him to the principal part of his cares and toils; he labours 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 labours and expedients, which perplex and often destroy them. He, then, who lives without God, travails in pain all his days.


 
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