Ecclesiastes 3:20

20 All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

Ecclesiastes 3:20 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 3:20

All go unto one place
The earth ^F23 from whence they came; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again;
Adam's body was made of the dust of the earth, and so all his posterity, all of them; in which they agree with beasts, who are made of the dust also; and, when they die, return to it; see ( Genesis 2:7 ) ( 3:19 ) ( Psalms 104:29 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F23 "Magna parens terra est", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 7.

Ecclesiastes 3:20 In-Context

18 I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”

19 For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.

20 All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth?

22 I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?