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19 because human beings and animals share the same fate. One dies just like the other—both have the same life-breath. Humans are no better off than animals because everything is pointless.

20 All go to the same place:
    all are from the dust;
    all return to the dust.

21 Who knows if a human being’s life-breath rises upward while an animal’s life-breath descends into the earth?

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19 Surely the fate of human beings(A) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath[a]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.(B) 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward(C) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Or spirit