Ecclesiastes 1:3

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?

Cross References

Ecclesiastes 2:11

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:18

I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to my successor,

Ecclesiastes 2:19

and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:22

What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 3:9

What gain have the workers from their toil?

Ecclesiastes 4:3

but better than both is the one who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 4:7

Again, I saw vanity under the sun:

Ecclesiastes 5:16

This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go, and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?

Ecclesiastes 5:18

This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us, for this is our lot.

Ecclesiastes 6:12

For who knows what is good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow? For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7:11

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:13

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of humans are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:6

Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.

Isaiah 55:2

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Habakkuk 2:13

Is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor only to feed the flames and nations weary themselves for nothing?

Habakkuk 2:18

What use is an idol once its maker has shaped it— a cast image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in what has been made, though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!

Matthew 16:26

For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

John 6:27

Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

1 Corinthians 16:16

I urge you to put yourselves at the service of such people and of everyone who works and toils with them.