Ecclesiastes 3:20

Myles Coverdale Bible

They go all vnto one place, for as they be all of dust, so shal they all turne vnto dust againe.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

Hebrew Names Version
All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

King James Version
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

English Standard Version
All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

New American Standard Bible
All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

New Century Version
Both end up the same way; both came from dust and both will go back to dust.

Amplified Bible
All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

World English Bible
All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Geneva Bible (1587)
All goe to one place, & all was of the dust, and all shall returne to the dust.

Legacy Standard Bible
All go to the same place. All came from the dust, and all return to the dust.

Berean Standard Bible
All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

Contemporary English Version
All living creatures go to the same place. We are made from earth, and we return to the earth.

Complete Jewish Bible
They all go to the same place; they all come from dust, and they all return to dust.

Darby Translation
All go unto one place: all are of the dust, and all return to dust.

Easy-to-Read Version
The bodies of people and animals end the same way. They came from the earth, and, in the end, they will go back to the earth.

George Lamsa Translation
All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Good News Translation
They are both going to the same place—the dust. They both came from it; they will both go back to it.

Lexham English Bible
Both go to one place—both came from dust and both return to dust.

Literal Translation
All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all return to the dust.

American Standard Version
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Bible in Basic English
All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all will be turned to dust again.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all return to dust.

King James Version (1611)
All goe vnto one place, all are of the dust, and all turne to dust againe.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
They go all vnto one place: for as they be all of dust, so shall they all turne vnto dust agayne.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
All go to one place; all were formed of the dust, and all will return to dust.

English Revised Version
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Alle thingis ben suget to vanyte, and alle thingis goen to o place; tho ben maad of erthe, and tho turnen ayen togidere in to erthe.

Update Bible Version
All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Webster's Bible Translation
All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

New English Translation
Both go to the same place, both come from the dust, and to dust both return.

New King James Version
All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.

New Living Translation
Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust.

New Life Bible
All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

New Revised Standard
All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
all, go unto one place, - all, came from the dust, and all, return to the dust.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they return together.

Revised Standard Version
All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Young's Literal Translation
The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

Contextual Overview

¹⁶ Morouer, I sawe vnder ye Sonne, vngodlynesse in the steade of iudgment, & iniquite in steade of rightuousnesse. ¹⁷ Then thought I in my mynde: God shal separate the rightuous from the vngodly, & then shal be the tyme & iudgmet of all councels & workes. ¹⁸ I comoned wt myne owne herte also cocernynge the childre of men: how God hath chosen them, and yet letteth the apeare, as though they were beastes: ¹⁹ for it happeneth vnto men as it doth vnto beastes, & as the one dyeth, so dyeth ye other: yee they haue both one maner of breth, so yt (in this) a man hath no preemynence aboue a beest, but all are subdued vnto vanite. ²⁰ They go all vnto one place, for as they be all of dust, so shal they all turne vnto dust againe. ²¹ Who knoweth the sprete of man yt goeth vpwarde, and the breth of the beest yt goeth downe in to the earth? ²² Wherfore I perceaue, yt there is nothyinge better for a man, then to be ioyfull in his laboure, for that is his porcion. But who wil brynge him to se the thinge, that shal come after him?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

go: Ecclesiastes 3:21, Ecclesiastes 6:6, Ecclesiastes 9:10, Genesis 25:8, Genesis 25:17, Numbers 27:13, Job 7:9, Job 17:13, Job 30:24, Psalms 49:14

all are: Genesis 3:19, Job 10:9, Job 10:10, Job 34:15, Psalms 104:29, Daniel 12:2

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:7 - dust 2 Samuel 14:14 - we must Psalms 89:48 - What Ecclesiastes 12:7 - dust Hebrews 9:27 - as

Cross-References

Genesis 2:20
And man gaue names vnto all maner catell, & vnto the foules vnder the heaue, and vnto all maner beastes of ye felde. But vnto man there was founde no helpe, to beare him company.

Genesis 2:23
Then sayde man: This is once bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shalbe called woman, because she was take of man.

Genesis 5:29
& called him Noe, and sayde: This same shall coforte vs in oure workes, and in the sorowe of oure hondes vpon the earth, which the LORDE hath cursed.

Genesis 16:11
And the angel of the LORDE sayde further vnto her: Beholde, thou art with childe, & shalt bringe forth a sonne, and shalt call his name Ismael, because the LORDE hath herde yi trouble.

Genesis 35:18
But as hir soule was departynge, yt she must dye, she called him Ben Oni: neuertheles his father called hi Be Iamin.

Exodus 2:10
And whan the childe was growne, she brought it vnto Pharaos doughter, and it became hir sonne, and she called him Moses. For she sayde: I toke him out of the water.

1 Samuel 1:20
And after certayne dayes, she coceaued and bare a sonne, and called his name Samuel, for I haue desyred him (sayde she) of the LORDE.

Matthew 1:21
She shall brynge forth a sonne, and thou shalt call his name Iesus. For he shall saue his people from their synnes.

Matthew 1:23
Beholde, a mayde shall be with chylde, and shall brynge forth a sonne, and they shall call his name Emanuel, which is by interpretacion, God wt vs.

Acts 17:26
and hath made of one bloude all the generacion of men to dwell vpo all the face of ye earth: and hath assygned borders appoynted before, how longe and farre they shulde dwell,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

All go unto one place,.... The earth w 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.

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

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That great anomaly in the moral government of this world, the seemingly unequal distribution of rewards and punishments, will be rectified by God, who has future times and events under His control Ecclesiastes 3:16-17. As for people, they are placed by God, who is their teacher, in a humble condition, even on a level with inferior animals, by death, that great instance of their subjection to vanity Ecclesiastes 3:18-19, which reduces to its original form all that was made of the dust of the ground Ecclesiastes 3:20. And though the destinies of man and beast are different, yet in our present lack of knowledge as to God’s future dealing with our spirits Ecclesiastes 3:21, man finds his portion (see the Ecclesiastes 2:10 note) in such labor and such joy as God assigns to him in his lifetime Ecclesiastes 3:22.

Ecclesiastes 3:16

I saw ... - Rather, I have seen (as in Ecclesiastes 3:10) under the sun the place etc. The place of judgment means the seat of the authorized judge. Compare “the place of the holy” Ecclesiastes 8:10.

Ecclesiastes 3:17

A time there - i. e., a time with God.

Ecclesiastes 3:18

literally, I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men, it is that God may prove them and show them that they are beasts, they themselves. “Showing” is the reading of the Septuagint and Syriac: the present Hebrew text reads “seeing.” The meaning is that the long delay of God’s judgment Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 is calculated to show people that the brevity of their life renders them incapable of following out and understanding His distributive justice.

Ecclesiastes 3:19

That which befalleth the sons of men - literally, the event (happenstance) of the sons of men, i. e., what comes upon them from outside, by virtue of the ordinance of God. See the Ecclesiastes 2:14 note. Death in particular Ecclesiastes 3:2, Ecclesiastes 3:11 is a part of the “work that God doeth.”

Ecclesiastes 3:21

The King James Version of this verse is the only rendering which the Hebrew text, as now pointed, allows. It is in accordance with the best Jewish and many modern interpreters. A slightly different pointing would be requisite to authorize the translation, “Who knows the spirit of the sons of man whether it goes above, and, the spirit of the beast whether it goes down below?” etc., which, though it seems neither necessary nor suitable, is sanctioned by the Septuagint and other versions and by some modern interpreters.

Who knoweth - This expression (used also in Ecclesiastes 2:19; Ecclesiastes 6:12) does not necessarily imply complete and absolute ignorance. In Psalms 90:11, it is applied to what is partially understood: compare similar forms of expression in Proverbs 31:10; Psalms 94:16; Isaiah 53:1. Moreover, it is evident from marginal references that Solomon did not doubt the future existence and destination of the soul. This verse can only be construed as a confession of much ignorance on the subject.

Ecclesiastes 3:22

What shall be after him - i. e., What shall become of the results of his work after he is dead. Compare Ecclesiastes 2:19; Ecclesiastes 6:12.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 20. All go unto one place —

"Man was born

To die, nor aught exceeds in this respect

The vilest brute. Both transient, frail, and vain,

Draw the same breath; alike grow old, decay,

And then expire: both to one grave descend;

There blended lie, to native dust return'd."-C.