¹⁸ So I said in my heart, “This is done so that God can test the children of Adam, so that they can see what animals they are if left to themselves.”^{[a] 19} For the outcome^[b] for the children of Adam and the outcome for animals is the same. One dies just like the other. All have the same breath. Mankind has no advantage over animals, because everything is vapor. ²⁰ All go to the same place. All were from the dust, and to the dust all return. ²¹ Who knows whether the spirit^[c] of the man goes upward, and the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?

²² So I saw that there is nothing better for man than to be happy in his activities, since that is his reward.^[d] For who will show him what there will be after him?