and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.
- KJV And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
- NKJV and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
- NASB moreover, that every person who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—this is the gift of God.
- NLT And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Eating, drinking, and enjoying one's labor are the gift of God. Everyday satisfaction is to be received gratefully from His hand.
Overview
The Preacher repeats that the ability to enjoy ordinary provision and work is God's gracious gift. This guards against both anxious striving and ungrateful discontent. By rooting enjoyment in God as giver, the verse teaches a contentment that finds its fullest expression in thankful dependence on the Lord who supplies all good things.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Eccl 9:7Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
- Eccl 2:24Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God.
- Isa 65:21–23They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
- Ps 128:2For when you eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours.
- Eccl 5:18–20Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.
- Deut 28:30–31You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit.
- Judg 6:3–6Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them,
- Deut 28:47–48Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,
- Eccl 6:2God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 3:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.