EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Ecclesiastes 12:7
7Our bodies go back into the ground as dust. The breath of our life goes back to God, who gave it to us.
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
5You will be afraid to stand on high places. You will worry about danger in the streets. When you are old, your hair will become white, like the flowers on an almond tree. You will feel too tired to move yourself, like an old grasshopper. You will not want to have sex. Finally, we will all die and go to our home in the ground. Many people will weep at our funeral. 6Remember to serve God while you are young, because one day your life will finish. It will be like a silver chain that breaks; like a gold bowl that breaks; like a water pot at the well that breaks into pieces; like a rope at the well that breaks apart. Our bodies go back into the ground as dust. The breath of our life goes back to God, who gave it to us. 8So I, the Teacher, say, ‘All these things have no purpose. We cannot understand why they happen.’ 9The Teacher was wise man. He also taught the people to understand things. He studied many proverbs and he wrote them down carefully.
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 living things finally go to the same place. We all come from the dust of the ground. And we all go back to the dust when we die.
- Genesis 3:19You will have to work hard for a long time before you have any food to eat. You will do this for your whole life until you die. Then you will return into the ground. That is where you came from. I made you from the soil of the ground, and you will become soil again.’
- Genesis 18:27Then Abraham spoke again. He said, ‘I have been brave enough to speak to the Lord. I know that I am nothing more than dust and ashes.
- Job 4:19God used clay to make bodies for us who are humans. We came from the dust of the earth. We are as weak as moths.
- Job 7:21You should agree to forgive my sins. You should say that I am not guilty. I will soon die and I will go into my grave. Then you will carefully look for me, but I will not be there.’
- Job 20:11He still had the strength of a young man. But his strength will die with him when he lies in his grave.
- Job 34:14God could decide to remove life from the world. He could take back his spirit and his breath.
- Psalms 90:3People return to dust in the ground when they die. You say, ‘Become dust again, you people.’
- Psalms 146:4When they die, they return to the ground. On that day, their plans come to an end.
- Daniel 12:2Many dead people who lie under the ground will become alive again. Some of them will receive life that continues for ever with God. But other people will receive shame that continues for ever.
- Ecclesiastes 3:21Do the spirits of humans go up into the sky when we die? Do the spirits of animals go down into the ground? Nobody really knows.’
- Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and he made a man. He breathed air into the nose of the man to give him life. So the man became alive.
- Numbers 16:22But Moses and Aaron threw themselves on the ground. Their faces were touching the ground. They said, ‘You, our God, are the God who gives life to all people. When one man does a bad thing, will you be angry with all the people? Is that right?’
- Numbers 27:16‘You are the Lord, the God of the spirits of all people. Please choose another man to be leader over all the people.
- Isaiah 57:16I will not always speak against my people. I will not be angry with them for ever. I do not want them to lose hope completely. I myself gave life to them.
- Jeremiah 38:16But King Zedekiah made a serious promise to Jeremiah. Nobody else knew about it. He said, ‘I promise you that this is true, as surely as the Lord lives. I promise that I will not kill you. And I will not give you to the men who want to kill you.’
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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