New King James Version
Ecclesiastes 12:7
7Then the dust 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 Living Translation (NLT)For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Context of Ecclesiastes 12:7
5Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, And desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets. 6Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust 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 is vanity.” 9And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order 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 one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.
- Genesis 3:19In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
- Genesis 18:27Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord:
- Job 4:19How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth?
- Job 7:21Why then do You not pardon my transgression, And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, And You will seek me diligently, But I will no longer be.”
- Job 20:11His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it will lie down with him in the dust.
- Job 34:14If He should set His heart on it, If He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
- Psalms 90:3You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.”
- Psalms 146:4His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.
- Daniel 12:2And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Ecclesiastes 3:21Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?
- Genesis 2:7And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
- Numbers 16:22Then they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?”
- Numbers 27:16“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
- Isaiah 57:16For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls which I have made.
- Jeremiah 38:16So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries