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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 1:3 - Amplified Bible©
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 1:3 |
Amplified Bible© |
What profit does man have left from all his toil at which he toils under the sun? [Is life worth living?] |
| |
King James |
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
What profit . . . labour--that is, "What profit" as to the chief good (Mat 16:26). Labor is profitable in its proper place (Gen 2:15; Gen 3:19; Pro 14:23).
under the sun--that is, in this life, as opposed to the future world. The phrase often recurs, but only in Ecclesiastes. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
What profit ... - The question often repeated is the great practical inquiry of the book; it receives its final answer in Ecc 12:13-14. When this question was asked, the Lord had not yet spoken Mat 11:28. The word "profit" (or pre-eminence) is opposed to "vanity."
Hath a man - Rather, hath man. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| With this verse commences the proof for this exclamation and statement: "What profit hath a man of all his labour which he laboureth in under the sun?!" An interrogative exclamation, which leads to the conclusion that never anything right, i.e., real, enduring, satisfying, comes of it.יתרון, profit, synon. with Mothar, Ecc 3:19, is peculiar to this book (= Aram. יוּתרן). A primary form, יתרון, is unknown. The punctator Simson (Cod. 102a of the Leipzig University Lib.f. 5a) rightly blames those who use ויתּרון, in a liturgical hymn, of the Day of Atonement. The word signifies that which remains over, either, as here, clear gain, profit, or that which has the pre-eminence, i.e., superiority, precedence, or is the foremost. "Under the sun" is the designation of the earth peculiar to this book, - the world of men, which we are wont to call the sublunary world. שׁ has not the force of an accusative of manner, but of the obj. The author uses the expression, "Labour wherein I have laboured," Ecc 2:19-20; Ecc 5:17, as Euripides, similarly, μοχθεῖν μόχθον. He now proceeds to justify the negative contained in the question, "What profit?" |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| 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. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| 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. |
23 In all labor there is profit, but idle talk leads only to poverty.
19 In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.
15 And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]?
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]
13 All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God's providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil. Cross reference(s) provided by the translation: [Matt. 12:36; Acts 17:30, 31; Rom. 2:16; I Cor. 4:5.]
17 All his days also he eats in darkness [cheerlessly, with no sweetness and light in them], and much sorrow and sickness and wrath are his.
19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have dominion over all my labor in which I have toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!
20 So I turned around and gave my heart up to despair over all the labor of my efforts under the sun.
19 For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even [in the end] one thing befalls them both. As the one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath and spirit, so that a man has no preeminence over a beast; for all is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!