Ecclesiastes 3:10

10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.

Ecclesiastes 3:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 3:10

I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of
men
The pains and trouble they are at to get a little wisdom and knowledge, ( Ecclesiastes 1:13 ) ; and so to obtain riches and honour, peace and plenty, which sometimes they do obtain, and sometimes not; and when they do, do not keep them long, for there is a time for everything. This the wise man had observed, in a variety of instances; and he considered the end of God in it, which was for men to be exercised in it,
or "by it"; or "to afflict" or "humble [them] by it" F12; to let them see that all their toil and labour signified little; all depended on a divine blessing, and no happiness was to be had in the creatures; all was vanity and vexation of spirit; (See Gill on Ecclesiastes 1:13).


FOOTNOTES:

F12 (wb twnel) "ad affligendum se in ea", Montanus; "ut eos adfligat in ea, sc. per eam", Rambachius; "ut ea redderet humiles", Tigurine version.

Ecclesiastes 3:10 In-Context

8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
9 What gain have the workers from their toil?
10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.
11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.