Ecclesiastes 6:7 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 6:7-10

The preacher here further shows the vanity and folly of heaping up worldly wealth and expecting happiness in it. I. How much soever we toil about the world, and get out of it, we can have for ourselves no more than a maintenance (Eccl. 6:7): All the labour of man is for his mouth, which craves it of him (Prov. 16:26); it is but food and raiment; what is more others have, not we; it is all for the mouth. Meats are but for the belly and the belly for meats; there is nothing for the head and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 6:7

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... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 6:7

All 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 attain his end. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 6:7

All the labor of man is for his mouth ; i . e . for self-preservation and enjoyment, eating and drinking being taken as a type of the proper use of earthly blessings (comp; Ecclesiastes 2:24 ; Ecclesiastes 3:13 , etc.; Psalms 128:2 ). The sentiment is general, and does not refer specially to the particular person described above, though it carries on the idea of the unsatisfactory result of wealth. Luther translates strangely and erroneously, "To every man is work allotted... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 6:7-9

Section 10. Desire is insatiable ; men are always striving after enjoyment, but they never gain their wish completely—which fortifies the old conclusion that man's happiness is not in his own power. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 6:7-9

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 exists only in the desire.”Ecclesiastes 6:8What -... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ecclesiastes 6:7-8

Ecclesiastes 6:7-8. All the labour of man is for his mouth For meat and other necessary provisions of this life; and yet the appetite is not filled Although all that a man can obtain by his labours is but a provision for his bodily wants, which the meanest sort of men commonly enjoy, yet such is the vanity of the world, and the folly of mankind, that men are insatiable in their desires, and restless in their endeavours after more and more, and never say they have enough. What hath the... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 6:1-12

Advice about money (5:8-6:12)Greed for money is a common social evil and the cause of much suffering. Because of such greed, government officials exploit poor farmers. Each official makes sure he takes as much money as he can, so that after he has passed some of it on to those above him who protect him, he has enough left for himself. As for the farmers, besides losing their profits to corrupt officials, they must also give some of their harvest as a tax to the king (8-9).Prosperity does not... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Ecclesiastes 6:7

labour = toil. the appetite = the soul. Hebrew. nephesh. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 6:7

SOLOMON FINDS MORE VANITY AND STRIVING AFTER WIND"All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. For what advantage hath the wise man more than the fool? or what hath the poor man that knoweth how to walk before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity, and a striving after wind."When life on earth, as considered apart from the knowledge of God, as the author of Ecclesiastes was speaking of it in these lines,... read more