Ecclesiastes 3:18-22
New International Version
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?”
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,(E) because that is their lot.(F) For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:19 Or spirit
Ecclesiastes 3:18-22
International Standard Version
18 “As for human beings,” I told myself, “God puts them to the test, that they might see themselves as mere animals.” 19 For what happens to people also happens to animals—a single event happens to them: just as someone dies, so does the other. In fact, they all breathe the same way, so that a human being has no superiority over an animal. All of this is pointless. 20 All of them go to one place: all of them originate from dust, and all of them return to dust.
21 Who knows whether[a] the spirit of human beings ascends, and whether[b] the spirit of animals descends to the earth? 22 I concluded that it is worthwhile for people to find joy in their accomplishments, because that is their inheritance, since who can see what will exist after them?
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:21 So LXX. The Heb. lacks whether
- Ecclesiastes 3:21 So LXX. The Heb. lacks whether
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