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Ecclesiastes 3:19-21
New Catholic Bible
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21
New Catholic Bible
19 For the fate of men and beasts is identical: as the one dies, so does the other. They all have the same life-breath, and man has no advantage over the beast in this regard. For everything is vanity. 20 All go to the same place: all were made from the dust, and to the dust all will return.
21 Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of an animal goes downward to the earth?[a]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:21 Qoheleth expresses doubt about the final state of the human spirit, but by the end of the Book it is resolved: “the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Eccl 12:7). The answer was revealed gradually (see Pss 16:9-11; 49:16; 73:23-26; Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2-3) and fully revealed by Jesus who “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10).
