Ecclesiastes 3:10
New International Version
I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.

New Living Translation
I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.

English Standard Version
I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

Berean Standard Bible
I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them.

King James Bible
I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

New King James Version
I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.

New American Standard Bible
I have seen the task which God has given the sons of mankind with which to occupy themselves.

NASB 1995
I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

NASB 1977
I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

Legacy Standard Bible
I have seen the endeavor which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

Amplified Bible
I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

Christian Standard Bible
I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied.

American Standard Version
I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
I have seen the task that LORD JEHOVAH gives the children men in which to be employed

Brenton Septuagint Translation
I have seen all the trouble, which God has given to the sons of men to be troubled with.

Contemporary English Version
I have seen what difficult things God demands of us.

Douay-Rheims Bible
I have seen the trouble, which God hath given the sons of men to be exercised in it.

English Revised Version
I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I have seen mortals weighed down with a burden that God has placed on them.

Good News Translation
I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us.

International Standard Version
I have observed the burdens placed by God on human beings in order to perfect them.

JPS Tanakh 1917
I have seen the task which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

Literal Standard Version
I have seen the travail that God has given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

Majority Standard Bible
I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them.

New American Bible
I have seen the business that God has given to mortals to be busied about.

NET Bible
I have observed the burden that God has given to people to keep them occupied.

New Revised Standard Version
I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.

New Heart English Bible
I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

Webster's Bible Translation
I have seen the labor, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

World English Bible
I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

Young's Literal Translation
I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Works Remain Forever
9What does the worker gain from his toil? 10I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.…

Cross References
Ecclesiastes 1:13
And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!

Ecclesiastes 2:26
To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 11:5
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.


Treasury of Scripture

I have seen the travail, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

Ecclesiastes 1:3
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 2:11,22,23
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun…

Ecclesiastes 5:16
And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

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Afflicted Burden Business Busy Exercised Humbled Labor Occupy Task Themselves Therewith Toil Travail Work
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Afflicted Burden Business Busy Exercised Humbled Labor Occupy Task Themselves Therewith Toil Travail Work
Ecclesiastes 3
1. by the necessary change of times, vanity is added to human travail
11. is an excellence in God's works
16. as for man, God shall judge his works hereafter, though here he be like a beast














Verses 10-15. - There is a plan and system in all the circumstances of man's life; he feels this instinctively, but he cannot comprehend it. His duty is to make the best of the present, and to recognize the immutability of the law that governs all things. Verse 10. - I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it; i.e. to busy themselves therewith (Ecclesiastes 1:13). This travail, exercise, or business is the work that has to be done under the conditions prescribed of time and season in face of the difficulty of man's free action and God's ordering. We take infinite pains, we entertain ample desires, and strive restlessly to carry them out, but our efforts are controlled by a higher law, and results occur in the way and at the time arranged by Providence. Human labor, though it is appointed by God and is part of man's heritage imposed upon him by the Fall (Genesis 3:17, etc.), cannot bring contentment or satisfy the spirit's cravings.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
I have seen
רָאִ֣יתִי (rā·’î·ṯî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 7200: To see

the burden
הָֽעִנְיָ֗ן (hā·‘in·yān)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6045: Ado, employment, an affair

that
אֲשֶׁ֨ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

God
אֱלֹהִ֛ים (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

has laid
נָתַ֧ן (nā·ṯan)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

on men
לִבְנֵ֥י (liḇ·nê)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

to occupy them.
לַעֲנ֥וֹת (la·‘ă·nō·wṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 6031: To be bowed down or afflicted


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 3:10 I have seen the burden which God (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 3:9
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