Parallel Bible results for "Ecclesiastes 3:16-22"

Ecclesiastes 3:16-22

GNT

NIV

16 In addition, I have also noticed that in this world you find wickedness where justice and right ought to be.
16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17 I told myself, "God is going to judge the righteous and the evil alike, because every thing, every action, will happen at its own set time."
17 I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”
18 I decided that God is testing us, to show us that we are no better than animals.
18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.
19 After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either.
19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.
20 They are both going to the same place - the dust. They both came from it; they will both go back to it.
20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.
21 How can anyone be sure that the human spirit goes upward while an animal's spirit goes down into the ground?
21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22 So I realized then that the best thing we can do is enjoy what we have worked for. There is nothing else we can do. There is no way for us to know what will happen after we die.
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.