Ecclesiastes 6:7

Ecclesiastes 6:7 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
• New International Version (NIV)Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied.
• English Standard Version (ESV)All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
• New King James Version (NKJV)All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied.

Context of Ecclesiastes 6:7

5moreover it hath not seen nor known the sun: this hath rest rather than the other. 6Yea, though he live twice a thousand years, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place? All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. 8For what advantage hath the wise above the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living? 9Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 6:7 word by word

כָּל־עֲמַ֥ל הָאָדָ֖ם לְפִ֑יהוּ וְגַם־הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ לֹ֥א תִמָּלֵֽא׃Read the interlinear

• manאָדָם'âdâm · manH120
• mouthפֶּהpeh · lipH6310
• appetiteנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: appetiteH5315
• filledמָלֵאmâlê' mâlâ' · to fillH4390

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 6:7

• Genesis 3:17And to Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed be the ground on thy account; with toil shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life;
• Proverbs 16:26The appetite of the labourer laboureth for him, for his mouth urgeth him on.
• Matthew 6:25For this cause I say unto you, Do not be careful about your life, what ye should eat and what ye should drink; nor for your body what ye should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than raiment?
• John 6:27Work not [for] the food which perishes, but [for] the food which abides unto life eternal, which the Son of man shall give to you; for him has the Father sealed, [even] God.
• 1 Timothy 6:6But piety with contentment is great gain.
• Ecclesiastes 6:3If a man beget a hundred [sons], and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, but his soul be not filled with good, and also he have no burial, I say an untimely birth is better than he.
• Ecclesiastes 5:10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This also is vanity.
• Luke 12:19and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much good things laid by for many years; repose thyself, eat, drink, be merry.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 6:7

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7All the labor of man - This is the grand primary object of all human labor; merely to provide for the support of life by procuring things necessary. And life only exists for the sake of the soul; because man puts these things in place of spiritual good, the appetite - the intense desire after the supreme good - is not satisfied. When man learns to provide as distinctly for his soul as he does for his body, then he will begin to be happy, and may soon…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7-9Verses 7-9 Connect these verses with Ecclesiastes 6:2-3: “All labor is undertaken with a view to some profit, but as a rule the people who labor are never satisfied. What advantage then has he who labors if (being rich) he is wise, or if being poor he knows how to conduct himself properly; what advantage have such laborers above a fool? (None, so far as they are without contentment, for) a thing present before the eyes is preferable to a future which…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-12Verses 7-12 A little will serve to sustain us comfortably, and a great deal can do no more. The desires of the soul find nothing in the wealth of the world to give satisfaction. The poor man has comfort as well as the richest, and is under no real disadvantage. We cannot say, Better is the sight of the eyes than the resting of the soul in God; for it is better to live by faith in things to come, than to live by sense, which dwells only upon present…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7People often feel unsatisfied with what they have, regardless of the amount (compare Ecclesiastes 5:10).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. man--rather, "the man," namely, the miser (Ec 6:3-6). For not all men labor for the mouth, that is, for selfish gratification. appetite--Hebrew, "the soul." The insatiability of the desire prevents that which is the only end proposed in toils, namely, self-gratification; "the man" thus gets no "good" out of his wealth (Ec 6:3).Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 6:7

• Contentment

In the dictionaries

• Appetite
• Synagogue, the Great

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings