Ecclesiastes 6:7

New English Translation

⁷All man’s labor is for nothing more than^[a] to fill his stomach^[b]—
yet his appetite^[c] is never satisfied!

Ecclesiastes 6:7 tn The phrase “for nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
Ecclesiastes 6:7 tn 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, 641-43), as suggested by the parallelism with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “his appetite”).
Ecclesiastes 6:7 tn 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 (BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 5.c; 6.a).

Ecclesiastes 6:8

New English Translation

⁸So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool?^[a]
And what advantage^[b] does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive?^[c]

Ecclesiastes 6:8 sn So what advantage does the wise man have over a fool? The rhetorical question in Hebrew implies a negative answer: the wise man has no absolute advantage over a fool in the sense that both will share the same fate: death. Qoheleth should not be misunderstood here as denying that wisdom has no relative advantage over folly; elsewhere he affirms that wisdom does yield some relative benefits in life (7:1-22). However, wisdom cannot deliver one from death.
Ecclesiastes 6:8 sn As in the preceding parallel line, this rhetorical question implies a negative answer (see the note after the word “fool” in the preceding line).
Ecclesiastes 6:8 tn Heb “ What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”

New English Translation (NET)