preeminence · noun, common masculine singular absolute
man
לָֽאָדָ֑םla.'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
labour
עֲמָל֔וֹa.ma.Lo
H5999
toil · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
taketh
שֶֽׁיַּעֲמֹ֖לshei.ya.'a.Mol
H5998
to toil · relative particle + verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sun
הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁha.Sha.mesh
H8121
the sun · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ecclesiastes 3:9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
Ecclesiastes 2:22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 5:16 And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?
Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexat…
Mark 8:36-37 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Proverbs 23:4-5 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: f…
Ecclesiastes 2:19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I h…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 1:1-3
Here is, I. An account of the penman of this book; it was Solomon, for no other son of David was king of Jerusalem; but he conceals his name Solomon, peaceable, because by his sin he had brought trouble upon himself and his kingdom, had broken his peace with God and lost the peace of his conscience, and therefore was no more worthy of that name. Call me not Solomon, call me Marah, for, behold, for peace I had great bitterness. But he calls himself,
1. The preacher, which intimates his present character. He is Koheleth, which comes from a word which signifies to gather; but it is of a feminine termination, by which perhaps Solomon intends to upbraid himself with his effeminacy, which contribu…
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.
John Gill on Ecclesiastes 1:3
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? This is a general proof of the vanity of all things, since there is no profit arises to a man of all his labour; for, though it is put by way of question, it carries in it a strong negative. All things a man enjoys he gets by labour; for man, through sin, is doomed and born unto it, Job 5:7; he gets his bread by the sweat of his brow, which is a part of the curse for sin; and the wealth and riches got by a diligent hand, with a divine blessing, are got by labour; and so all knowledge of natural and civil things is acquired through much labour and weariness of the flesh; and these are things a man labours for "under the s…
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, p…
The Church Fathers
Those who are rich in things that are valued in the realm of the natural do not gain anything. They do not gain longevity. Rich and poor are in the same situation: they go through life quickly and do not stay for a long time. Thus "from all the toil at which they toil under the sun" one does not gain anything, no increase in natural qualities. But the one who toils and strives for things that lead to the eternal and to the invisible gains something: A human being becomes a god, an uncertain human being becomes a strong one, a coward becomes courageous.
"What profit is there for a man in exchange for all his toil, which he toils under the sun?" After the general opinion that all things are vain Solomon begins to explain with regard to mankind: because men exert themselves in vain in the toil of the world, amassing wealth, teaching children, working their way towards glory, constructing buildings, and then are taken away in the midst of their work by sudden death, they hear the words: "Thou fool, this night your soul shall be required of you, then whose will be those things that you have amassed?" [Luc. 12, 20.] Just as they make nothing for themselves in exchange for all this toil, so they return naked to the earth from whence they were taken.
If it is a vain thing to do good works for the sake of human praise, how much more vain for the sake of getting money, or increasing it, or retaining it, and any other temporal advantage, which comes unto us from without? Since "all things are vanity: what is man's abundance, with all his toil, wherein he labors under the sun?" For our temporal welfare itself finally we ought not to do our good works but rather for the sake of that everlasting welfare which we hope for, where we may enjoy an unchangeable good, which we shall have from God, nay, what God himself is unto us. For if God's saints were to do good works for the sake of this temporal welfare, never would the martyrs of Christ achieve a good work.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Covetousness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Industry · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The Hebrew idiom under the sun is used twenty-nine times in Ecclesiastes. The NLT sometimes renders it with expressions such as “here on earth” (2:18) or “in this world” (2:20). It suggests a view of life that is earthbound rather than reflecting God’s perspective.
Rashi on Ecclesiastes 1:3
What profit. [What] reward or gain.18Ordinarily, יתרון connotes “greater,” as when comparing two parts or objects, one to another. (Sifsei Chachomim)
Beneath the sun. Instead [=תַּחַת19Ordinarily, תחת means “under,” but in this verse that definition would be difficult. Therefore, Rashi interprets תחת as “instead,” as we find in Bereishis 30:15, “in exchange [תחת] for your son’s duda’im.” The Gemara in Maseches Shabbos 30b renders תחת as “after,” and interprets the verse, that for his labor “after the sun” he realizes no profit, but for his labor “before the sun,” i.e., in Torah, which existed before God created the world, there is profit. (Sifsei Chachomim) of the Torah, which is called lig…
