¹⁸ I said to myself with regard to humans that God is testing^[a] them to show that they are but animals.^{(A) 19} For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity.^{(B) 20} All go to one place, all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.^{(C) 21} Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?^(D)

¹⁰ and the rich in having been humbled, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.^{(A) 11} For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.

¹² For no one can anticipate one’s time. Like fish taken in a cruel net or like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.^(A)

²⁴ For