18 I said to myself, “This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.”(A) 19 For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same.(B) As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile. 20 All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.(C) 21 Who knows if the spirit of people rises upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth? 22 I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities(D) because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?[a](E)

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:22 Lit after him

18 I also thought, Where human beings are concerned, God tests them to show them that they are but animals 19 because human beings and animals share the same fate. One dies just like the other—both have the same life-breath. Humans are no better off than animals because everything is pointless.

20 All go to the same place:
    all are from the dust;
    all return to the dust.

21 Who knows if a human being’s life-breath rises upward while an animal’s life-breath descends into the earth? 22 So I perceived that there was nothing better for human beings but to enjoy what they do because that’s what they’re allotted in life. Who, really, is able to see what will happen in the future?

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