Ecclesiastes 1:3
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
What profit has a man of all his labor which he takes under the sun?
American King James Version (AKJV)
What profit has a man of all his labor which he takes under the sun?
American Standard Version (ASV)
What profit hath man of all his labor wherein he laboreth under the sun?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
What is a man profited by all his work which he does under the sun?
Webster's Revision
What profit hath a man of all his labor, which he taketh under the sun?
World English Bible
What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?
English Revised Version (ERV)
What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun?
Clarke's Ecclesiastes 1:3 Bible Commentary
What profit hath a man - What is the sum of the real good he has gained by all his toils in life? They, in themselves, have neither made him contented nor happy.
Barnes's Ecclesiastes 1:3 Bible Commentary
What profit ... - The question often repeated is the great practical inquiry of the book; it receives its final answer in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. When this question was asked, the Lord had not yet spoken Matthew 11:28. The word "profit" (or pre-eminence) is opposed to "vanity."
Hath a man - Rather, hath man.
Wesley's Ecclesiastes 1:3 Bible Commentary
1:3 What profit - What real and abiding benefit? None at all. All is unprofitable as to the attainment of that happiness which all men are enquiring after. His labour - Heb. his toilsome labour, both of body and mind in the pursuit of riches, or pleasures, or other earthly things.Under the sun - In all worldly matters, which are usually transacted in the day time, or by the light of the sun. By this restriction he implies that the happiness which in vain is sought for in this lower world, is really to be found in heavenly places and things.
