And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it 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.
- BSB and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this 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 thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
- Eccl 2:24There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
- Isa 65:21–23And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
- Ps 128:2For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
- Eccl 5:18–20Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.
- Deut 28:30–31Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
- Judg 6:3–6And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
- Deut 28:47–48Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
- Eccl 6:2A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
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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
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