Ecclesiastes 3:20

20 All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.^[a]

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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Ecclesiastes 3:20 In-Context

18 I said to myself, "This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals."

19 For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals, for everything is futile.

20 All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

21 Who knows if the spirit of people rises upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?

22 I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities, because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?

Footnotes

• [a]. Ec 12:7; Gn 3:19