Logos Bible Study

Ecclesiastes 6:7

The NET BibleOther versions

English

Arabic

Czech

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Simplified Chinese

Spanish

Traditional Chinese

6:7All of man’s labor is for nothing more than27 to fill his stomach28—

yet his appetite29 is never satisfied!

Read in Logos

Footnotes

  1. 27 The phrase “for nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
  2. 28 Heb “All man’s work is for his mouth.” The term “mouth” functions as a synecdoche of part (i.e., mouth) for the whole (i.e., person), substituting the organ of consumption for the person’s action of consumption (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, ), as suggested by the parallelism with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “his appetite”).
  3. 29 The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “desire; appetite”) is used as a metonymy of association, that is, the soul is associated with man’s desires and appetites ( 660 נֶפֶשׁ 5.c; 6.a).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,

yet their appetite is never satisfied.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

All of a person’s labor is for his stomach,

yet the appetite is never satisfied.

NLTNew Living Translation

All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

All of a man’s toil is for his mouth—

yet his appetite is never satisfied.

KJV 1900King James Version

All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.