Écclésiaste 6:7

Louis Segond

Tout le travail de l'homme est pour sa bouche, et cependant ses désirs ne sont jamais satisfaits.

Parallel Translations

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Tout le travail de l'homme est pour sa bouche, et cependant son d�sir n'est jamais assouvi.

La Bible Ostervald (1996)
Tout le travail de l'homme est pour sa bouche, et toutefois son d�sir n'est jamais assouvi.

Darby's French Translation
Tout le travail de l'homme est pour sa bouche, et cependant son d�sir n'est pas satisfait.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the labour: Genesis 3:17-19, Proverbs 16:26, Matthew 6:25, John 6:27, 1 Timothy 6:6-8

appetite: Heb. soul, Ecclesiastes 6:3, Ecclesiastes 5:10, Luke 12:19

Reciprocal: Genesis 48:15 - fed me Psalms 127:2 - the bread Proverbs 27:20 - so Ecclesiastes 2:22 - hath man

Gill's Notes on the Bible

All the labour of man [is] for his mouth,.... For the food of his mouth, as the Targum; for the sustenance of his body, for food and clothing, part being put for the whole: all that a man labours for is to get this; and if he does not enjoy it, his labour is in vain; meats are for the belly, which are taken in by the mouth, and for these a man labours; and if he does not eat them, when he has got them, he labours to no purpose;

and yet the appetite is not filled; even the bodily or sensual appetite; no, not even by those who eat the fruit of their labour; for though their hunger is allayed for the present, and the appetite is satisfied for a while, yet it returns again, and requires more food, and so continually: or, "the soul is not filled", or "satisfied" c; it is the body only that is filled or satisfied with such things, at best; the mind of man grasps after greater things, and can find no contentment or satisfaction in earthly or sensual enjoyments. This seems to be a new argument, proving the vanity of riches, from the narrow use of them; which only reaches to the body, not to the soul.

c הנפש לא תמלא "anima non implebitur", Pagninus, Montanus; "anima non expletur", Mercerus, Gejerus; "non impletur", Cocceius, so Broughton; "non satiatur", Drusius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 exists only in the desire.”

Ecclesiastes 6:8

What - literally, what profit (as in Ecclesiastes 1:3).

Knoweth ... living - i. e., “Knows how to conduct himself rightly among his contemporaries.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 6:7. All the labour of man — This is the grand primary object of all human labour; 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 attain his end.