Ecclesiastes 1:3

All Toil Is Profitless And Repetitious

² “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
³ What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.

On Earth

Under the Sun

Ecclesiastes 2:11

Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 3:9

What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?

Ecclesiastes 5:16

This also is a grievous evil—exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind?

Ecclesiastes 2:22

For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?

Proverbs 23:4-5

Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Cease from your consideration of it.

Ecclesiastes 2:19

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 4:3

But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 4:7

Then I looked again at vanity under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 5:18

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.

Ecclesiastes 6:12

For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7:11

Wisdom along with an inheritance is good
And an advantage to those who see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 8:15-17

So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:6

Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:13

Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me.

Isaiah 55:2

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.

Habakkuk 2:13

“Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts
That peoples toil for fire,
And nations grow weary for nothing?

Habakkuk 2:18

“What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it,
Or an image, a teacher of falsehood?
For its maker trusts in his own handiwork
When he fashions speechless idols.

Matthew 16:26

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mark 8:36-37

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

John 6:27

Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”