Ecclesiastes 3:9 (WEB)

Passage

What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?

Nearby Context

Ecclesiastes 3:7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Ecclesiastes 3:8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:9 What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?

Ecclesiastes 3:10 I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "profit", "works", and "labors". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "profit" and "works", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "a time to love and a time..." into verse 10's "I have seen the burden which God...", so "profit" and "works" belong inside that flow. In Ecclesiastes context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "profit" and "works" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.