12 People, despite their wealth, do not endure;(A)
    they are like the beasts that perish.(B)

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12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

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18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.(A) 19 Surely the fate of human beings(B) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath[a]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.(C) 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward(D) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Or spirit

18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

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20 People who have wealth but lack understanding(A)
    are like the beasts that perish.(B)

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20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

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You have made my days(A) a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,(B)
    even those who seem secure.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 39:5 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 11.

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

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10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.(A) 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat(B) and withers(C) the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed.(D) In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

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10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

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12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

As fish are caught in a cruel net,
    or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times(A)
    that fall unexpectedly upon them.(B)

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12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

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But you will die(A) like mere mortals;
    you will fall like every other ruler.”

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But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

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24 For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,

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24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

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