Ecclesiastes 1:3

All Toil Is Profitless And Repetitious

² “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher.
“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”
³ What does a man gain for all his efforts
that he labors at under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.

On Earth

Under the Sun

Ecclesiastes 2:11

When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 3:9

What does the worker gain from his struggles?

Ecclesiastes 5:16

This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?

Ecclesiastes 2:22

For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

Proverbs 23:4-5

Don’t wear yourself out to get rich;
stop giving your attention to it.

Ecclesiastes 2:19

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

Ecclesiastes 4:3

But better than either of them is the one who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 4:7

Again, I saw futility under the sun:

Ecclesiastes 5:18

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.

Ecclesiastes 6:12

For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7:11

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
and an advantage to those who see the sun,

Ecclesiastes 8:15-17

So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:6

Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:13

I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me:

Isaiah 55:2

Why do you spend money on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.

Habakkuk 2:13

Is it not from the Lord of Hosts
that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire
and countries exhaust themselves for nothing?

Habakkuk 2:18

What use is a carved idol
after its craftsman carves it?
It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies.
For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it
and makes idols that cannot speak.

Matthew 16:26

What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

Mark 8:36-37

For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life?

John 6:27

Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal of approval on Him.”