I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Parallel translations
- WEB I said in my heart, “As for the sons of men, God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals.
- BSB 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.”
- NKJV I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.”
- NASB I said to myself regarding the sons of mankind, “God is testing them in order for them to see that they are as animals, they to themselves.”
- NLT I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God tests people so they may see they are, in their mortality, like the animals. This humbling realization confronts human pride.
Overview
Qoheleth states that God's testing reveals humanity's creaturely frailty, sharing mortality with the beasts. This is meant to humble human pride and expose our dependence on God. The verse does not deny humanity's unique creation in God's image, but stresses that, apart from God, we face the same death as the animals, a frailty Christ overcomes through resurrection.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 73:22So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
- Ps 49:12Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
- Gen 3:17–19And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
- Heb 9:27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
- 2 Pet 2:12But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
- Rom 9:23And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
- 1 Pet 1:24For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
- Ps 51:4Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
- Rom 3:4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
- Job 14:1–4Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
- Ps 73:18–19Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
- Ps 49:14Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
- Job 15:16How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
- Ps 90:5–12Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
- Job 40:8Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
- Ps 49:19–20He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 3:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.