Ecclesiastes 3:19-21

International Standard Version

¹⁹For what happens to people also happens to animals—a single event happens to them: just as someone dies, so does the other. In fact, they all breathe the same way, so that a human being has no superiority over an animal. All of this is pointless. ²⁰All of them go to one place: all of them originate from dust, and all of them return to dust.

²¹Who knows whether^[a] the spirit of human beings ascends, and whether^[b] the spirit of animals descends to the earth?

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 3:21 So LXX. The Heb. lacks whether
Ecclesiastes 3:21 So LXX. The Heb. lacks whether

Ecclesiastes 3:19-21

New International Version

¹⁹Surely 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. ²⁰All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.^(B) ²¹Who knows if the human spirit rises upward^(C) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”