For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.
Parallel translations
- WEB For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals: for all is vanity.
- KJV For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
- BSB 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.
- NASB For the fate of the sons of mankind and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath, and there is no advantage for mankind over animals, for all is futility.
- NLT For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless!
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
Both humans and animals share the same breath and the same death, so in this respect man has no advantage. Observed from 'under the sun,' mortality levels man and beast alike.
Overview
The Preacher emphasizes the shared fate of physical death common to humans and animals. Viewed merely 'under the sun,' this similarity makes human life seem no more enduring than the beasts'. This sober observation is not the whole of Scripture's teaching on humanity's distinct destiny, but it underscores our need for the resurrection hope that lies beyond death in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 49:12But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish.
- Ps 49:20A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.
- Job 14:10–12But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
- Eccl 2:20–23Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.
- Eccl 2:14The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness — and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.
- Ps 39:5–6Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.
- Ps 89:47–48Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
- Ps 104:29You hide your face: they are troubled; you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust.
- 2 Sam 14:14For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.
- Eccl 2:16For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
- Ps 92:6–7A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this:
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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 3:19 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.