Ecclesiastes 3:18

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Ecclesiastes 3:16–20 · Berean Standard Bible

16 Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

17 I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”

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.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Genesis 3:17

And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:18

Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground— because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

Job 14:1

“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.

Job 14:2

Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

Job 14:3

Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You?

Job 14:4

Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

Job 15:16

how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

Psalms 49:14

Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

Psalms 49:19

he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of day.

Psalms 49:20

A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Psalms 73:18

Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.

Psalms 73:19

How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

Psalms 90:5

You whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—

Psalms 90:6

in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.

Psalms 90:7

For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.

Psalms 90:8

You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

Psalms 90:9

For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.

Psalms 90:10

The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty if we are strong— yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Psalms 90:11

Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.

Psalms 90:12

So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

Hebrews 9:27

Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

1 Peter 1:24

For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

Job 40:8

Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

Psalms 51:4

Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.

Romans 3:4

Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”

Romans 9:23

What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory—

Psalms 73:22

I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.

2 Peter 2:12

These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.