The rhetorical question about whether the wise can live forever and whether they can escape the grip of the grave establishes the universality of mortality. The specific mention of the wise suggests that intelligence and wisdom cannot purchase exemption from death; even the intelligent and learned must face mortality. The reference to the grave as a place that devours suggests the absolute and inescapable nature of death; once in the grave, persons remain subject to its hold. The emotional language about the grave claiming people emphasizes the power and inevitability of death. This verse extends the wisdom teaching beyond those who trust wealth to embrace the broader human condition of mortality affecting all persons.

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