6 ¶ Yea, though he live a │ Suppose he had even lived a thousand years twice _told_, │ thousand years twice over, and yet hath he seen no good: do │ seen no good in them, does he not all go to one place? │ not arrive at altogether the │ same result as abortion? (6.) =And if= (this particle occurs Esther vii. 4 only, equivalent to ‎‏וְאִם לוֹ, but common in later Hebrew and Chaldee. It is one of those words from which many critics infer a late date to this book; but is it not used for the sake of the alliteration with הלא below?) =he lived a thousand years twice= told, =and goodness not seen= (as there is no nominative expressed, these verbs are in the nature of impersonals, and express the fact generally), =is it not to a place= which =is the same= (literally ‘one’) =the whole= (_i.e._ the totality of such persons) =is going?= 7 All the labour of man _is_ │ All the toil of humanity is for his mouth, and yet the │ for the gratification of ¹appetite is not filled. │ appetite, and yet the desires │ are never satisfied. ¹ _Hebrew_ soul. │ (7.) =Every toil= of =the man= (_i.e._ humanity) is =to his mouth= (remembering the meaning of עמל, the sense is clear; the anxiety of men is directed to their mouths, to satisfy physical or moral hunger), =and besides the soul= (_i.e._ the self, the ego, as metaphysicians write) =is not filled= (_i.e._ satisfied, or fills itself). 8 For what hath the wise │ What profit then is there to more than the fool? what hath │ the wise above the befooled? the poor, that knoweth to walk │ simply that which it is to a before the living? │ man in distress to maintain │ himself in the presence of the │ living.