Ecclesiastes 1:3

The Preacher asks what lasting profit a person gains from all their toil. The implied answer is that earthly labor, on its own terms, yields no enduring gain.

Cross-references · 21

• Eccl 3:9What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
• Eccl 5:16This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?
• Eccl 2:22For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?
• Eccl 2:11Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
• Mark 8:36–37For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
• John 6:27Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”
• Prov 23:4–5Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
• Eccl 2:19Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
• Isa 55:2Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.
• Matt 16:26For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
• Hab 2:13Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
• Eccl 8:15–17Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
• Eccl 9:3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
• Eccl 5:18Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.
• Eccl 9:13I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.
• Eccl 4:3Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
• Eccl 9:6Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
• Eccl 6:12For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
• Eccl 7:11Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.
• Eccl 4:7Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.
• Hab 2:18“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

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