Amplified Bible
Ecclesiastes 12:7
7then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
- New International Version (NIV)and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- English Standard Version (ESV)and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Context of Ecclesiastes 12:7
5Furthermore, they are afraid of a high place and of dangers on the road; the almond tree (hair) blossoms [white], and the grasshopper (a little thing) is a burden, and the caperberry (desire, appetite) fails. For man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets and market places. 6Earnestly remember your Creator before the silver cord [of life] is broken, or the golden bowl is crushed, or the pitcher at the fountain is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. 8“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All [that is done without God’s guidance] is vanity (futility).” 9Furthermore, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; and he pondered and searched out and arranged many proverbs.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 12Ecclesiastes 12:7 word by word
וְיָשֹׁ֧ב הֶעָפָ֛ר עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ כְּשֶׁהָיָ֑ה וְהָר֣וּחַ תָּשׁ֔וּב אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר נְתָנָֽהּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 12:7
- Ecclesiastes 3:20All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.
- Genesis 3:19By the sweat of your face You will eat bread Until you return to the ground, For from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
- Genesis 18:27Abraham answered, “Now behold, I who am but dust [in origin] and ashes have decided to speak to the Lord.
- Job 4:19How much more [will He blame and charge] those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay, Whose foundations are in the dust, Who are crushed like a moth.
- Job 7:21Why then do You not pardon my transgression And take away my sin and guilt? For now I will lie down in the dust; And You will seek me [diligently], but I will not be.”
- Job 20:11His bones are full of youthful strength But it lies down with him in the dust.
- Job 34:14If God should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself [that is, withdraw from man] His [life-giving] spirit and His breath,
- Psalms 90:3You turn man back to dust, And say, “Return [to the earth], O children of [mortal] men!”
- Psalms 146:4When his spirit leaves him, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts and plans perish.
- Daniel 12:2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake (resurrect), these to everlasting life, but some to disgrace and everlasting contempt (abhorrence).
- Ecclesiastes 3:21Who knows if the spirit of man ascends upward and the spirit of the animal descends downward to the earth?
- Genesis 2:7then the Lord God formed [that is, created the body of] man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being [an individual complete in body and spirit].
- Numbers 16:22But they fell on their faces [before the Lord], and said, “O God, God of the spirits of all flesh! When one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”
- Numbers 27:16“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
- Isaiah 57:16For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For [if I did stay angry] the spirit [of man] would grow weak before Me, And the breath of those whom I have created.
- Jeremiah 38:16But King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the Lord lives, who made our lives, be assured that I will not put you to death or put you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life.”
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 12:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God - 5. Putrefaction and solution take place; the whole mass becomes decomposed, and in process of time is reduced to dust, from which it was originally made; while the spirit, הרוח haruach, that spirit, which God at first breathed into the nostrils of man, when he in consequence became a Living Soul, an intelligent, rational, discoursing animal, returns to God who gave…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7The spirit - i. e., The spirit separated unto God from the body at death. No more is said here of its future destiny. To return to God, who is the fountain Psalm 36:9 of Life, certainly means to continue to live. The doctrine of life after death is implied here as in Exodus 3:6 (compare Mark 12:26), Psalm 17:15 (see the note), and in many other passages of Scripture earlier than the age of Solomon. The inference that the soul loses its personality and is…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7dust returns to the ground: See Genesis 2:7; 3:19. The idea that the spirit will return to God who gave it suggests a belief in an afterlife (compare Ecclesiastes 3:21; see “The Afterlife” Theme Note).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. dust--the dust-formed body. spirit--surviving the body; implying its immortality (Ec 3:11).Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 12:7
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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