New American Standard Bible 2020

Ecclesiastes 3:17-22

17I said 1to myself, “2God will judge the righteous and the wicked,” for a 3time for every matter and for every deed 4is there.

18I said 5to myself regarding the sons of mankind, “God is testing them in order for them to see that they are as 6animals, they to themselves.”

19 7For the fate of the sons of mankind and the fate of animals 8is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath, and there is no advantage for mankind over animals, for all is futility.

20All go to the same place. All came from the 9dust and all return to the dust.

21Who knows that the 10spirit of the sons of mankind ascends upward and the spirit of the animal descends downward to the earth?

22I have seen that 11nothing is better than when a person is happy in his activities, for that is his 12lot. For who will bring him to see 13what will occur after him?

Read all of Ecclesiastes 3

Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 3:17 Lit in my heart ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 3:17 Gen 18:25; Ps 96:13; 98:9; Eccl 11:9; Matt 16:27; Rom 2:6-10; 2 Thess 1:6-9 ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 3:17 Eccl 3:1; 8:6 ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 3:17 I.e., exists with God ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 3:18 Lit in my heart ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 3:18 Ps 49:12, 20; 73:22 ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Ps 49:12; Eccl 9:12 ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Lit and they have one fate ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 3:20 Gen 3:19; Ps 103:14; Eccl 12:7 ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 3:21 Eccl 12:7 ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 3:22 Eccl 2:24 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 3:22 Or reward ↩
13. Ecclesiastes 3:22 Eccl 2:18; 6:12; 8:7; 10:14 ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 3