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18 I said to myself concerning humans,[a] “God sifts[b] them in order to show[c] them that they are like beasts.” 19 For the fate of humans[d] and the fate of the beast is the same.[e] The death of the one is like the death of the other, for both are mortal.[f] Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting. 20 Both go to one place—both came from dust and both return to dust. 21 For no one knows whether the spirit of a human ascends to heaven and whether the spirit of the beast descends to the ground!

22 So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy the fruit of his labor, for this is his lot in life. For no one knows what will happen in the future.[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:18 Literally “the sons of the man”
  2. Ecclesiastes 3:18 Or “tests”
  3. Ecclesiastes 3:18 The MT reads active “to see,” but causative “to show” is reflected by LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate
  4. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Literally “the sons of the man”
  5. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Literally “is one”
  6. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Literally “and one breath is for all”
  7. Ecclesiastes 3:22 Literally “For who can bring him to see in what will be after him?”

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