Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 1:3
What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Teacher addresses the reader immediately after declaring all human endeavor futile in Ecclesiastes 1:2 and before noting the earth’s permanence in Ecclesiastes 1:4.
The words — The Hebrew terms יִתְרוֹן (yitrôn) meaning profit and עֲמָלוֹ (ʿămalô) meaning his toil frame the verse’s core question about the net return of human labor.
The thread — This exact inquiry appears in Ecclesiastes 3:9, Ecclesiastes 2:22, and Ecclesiastes 5:16, each time pressing the same question about the lasting value of earthly work.
Why it lands — The text states that a person gains nothing from his toil under the sun, demanding a sober assessment of human ambition that acknowledges its inherent limitation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 3:9 What does the worker gain from his toil?
- Ecclesiastes 2:22 For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?
- Ecclesiastes 5:16 This too is a grievous affliction: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?
- Ecclesiastes 2:11 Yet 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 be gained under the sun.
- Mark 8:36 What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
- Proverbs 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
- 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 approval.”
- Ecclesiastes 2:19 And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.
- Isaiah 55:2 Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.
- Matthew 16:26 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?