Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

Expanded Bible

¹⁸ I ·decided [^Lsaid in my heart concerning the human race] that God ·leaves it the way it is to test people and [^Ltests them] to show them they are just like animals. ¹⁹ The ·same thing happens to animals and to people [^Lfate of people and the fate of animals are the same/one fate]; they both have the same breath, so they both die. People ·are no better off than [have no advantage over] the animals, because everything is useless [1:2]. ²⁰ ·Both end up the same way [All go to the same place]; both came from dust and both will go back to dust. ²¹ Who ·can be sure [knows] that the human spirit goes up above and that the spirit of an animal goes down into the ground? ²² So I saw that ·the best thing people can do is [^Lthere is nothing better for people than] to ·enjoy [rejoice in] their work, because that is ·all they have [^Ltheir reward; 2:24–26; 3:12–14; 5:18–20; 8:15; 9:7–10; ^Cthe little pleasures are distractions from the meaningless world]. ·No one can help another person [^LWho can bring them to…?] see what will happen in the future.