² Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. ³ What is the profit to a man in all his labor which he labors under the sun? ⁴ A generation passes away, and a generation comes; but the earth remains forever.

Phrases

On Earth

Under the Sun

Cross References

Ecclesiastes 2:11

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit; and there is no profit under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 3:9

What profit does he have who works in that in which he labors?

Ecclesiastes 5:16

And this also is a sore evil, that in all, as he came, so shall he go; and what profit does he have who has labored for the wind?

Ecclesiastes 2:22

For what has man from all his labor, and from the troubling of his heart, in which he has labored under the sun?

Proverbs 23:4-5

Do not labor to be rich; cease from your own understanding.

Ecclesiastes 2:19

And who knows whether he shall be wise or a fool? Yet he shall have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and acted wisely under the sun. This is also vanity.

Ecclesiastes 4:3

Yea, better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 4:7

And I returned and saw vanity under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 5:18

Behold that which I have seen. it is good and right for one to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labor that he labors under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him; for it is his portion.

Ecclesiastes 6:12

For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7:11

Wisdom is good with an inheritance; but it is gain to those who see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 8:15-17

Then I praised gladness, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be glad; for that shall go with him of his labor for the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:6

Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; nor do they any longer have a part forever in all that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:13

This wisdom I have seen also under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

Isaiah 55:2

Why do you weigh silver for what is not bread? and your labor for what never satisfies? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Habakkuk 2:13

Behold, is it not for Jehovah of Hosts that the people labor only for fire; yea, the nations weary themselves only for vanity?

Habakkuk 2:18

What does an image profit, for its maker has carved it; a molten image, and a teacher of lies? For does the maker trust in his work on it, to make dumb idols?

Matthew 16:26

For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mark 8:36-37

For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

John 6:27

Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for that food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. For God the Father sealed Him.