⁹What ^xgain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰I have seen ^ythe business that ^zGod has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹He has ^amade everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot ^bfind out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I perceived that there is ^cnothing better for them than to be joyful and to ^ddo good as long as they live;

Read in Logos

Ecclesiastes 3:11: He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Cross references

xSee ch. 1:3
ySee ch. 1:13
zSee Gen. 3:17–19
a[Gen. 1:31]
bch. 8:17; [Job 5:9; Rom. 11:33]
c[ver. 22]
d Ps. 34:14; 37:3

In other versions

NIVNew International Version (2011)

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

What does the worker gain from his struggles? I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life.

NLTNew Living Translation

What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

What does the worker gain in his toil?

I have seen the business God gives to humans to preoccupy them. He has made everything suitable in its time. He also has put the past in their hearts, yet no one can grasp what God does from the beginning to the end. So I realized that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy themselves during their lives.

KJV 1900King James Version

What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

Public Domain