All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
The Hebrew word translated as appetite is nephesh, the same word elsewhere translated as soul. In this place soul denotes the self as a whole living physical person, the life that is sustained by food and drink with its bodily appetite and needs. It does not denote a separate immaterial being distinct from the body. All of man's labor is directed toward feeding his mouth and body, yet the appetite, the soul in this sense, is not filled. Those bodily needs that labor serves are never fully satisfied.
The Hebrew word translated as appetite is nephesh, the same word elsewhere translated as soul. In this place soul denotes the self as a whole living physical person, the life that is sustained by food and drink with its bodily appetite and needs. It does not denote a separate immaterial being distinct from the body. All of man's labor is directed toward feeding his mouth and body, yet the appetite, the soul in this sense, is not filled. Those bodily needs that labor serves are never fully satisfied.