All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
Parallel translations
- WEB All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
- KJV All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
- NKJV All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied.
- NASB All a person’s labor is for his mouth, and yet his appetite is not satisfied.
- NLT All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
All a person's labor is to feed his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied. It matters because human striving never fully quiets our deepest hunger.
Overview
The Preacher observes that despite endless toil for sustenance, desire remains unfilled, a recurring theme of insatiability (5:10). Earthly provision meets immediate needs but cannot satisfy the soul. This restless hunger points beyond physical bread to Jesus, the bread of life, in whom alone our deepest longing finds rest (John 6:35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- John 6:27Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
- Prov 16:26A worker’s appetite works for him because his hunger drives him onward.
- 1 Tim 6:6–8Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.
- Matt 6:25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- Eccl 6:3A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
- Luke 12:19Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- Eccl 5:10He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.
- Gen 3:17–19And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 6:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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