Passage
Ecclesiastes 3.20
20. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. (ASV)Book: Ecclesiastes · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT
Immediate context (±2 verses)
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ASV
18. I said in my heart, It is because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as beasts. 19. 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; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity.
20. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
- Who knoweth the spirit of man, whether it goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goeth downward to the earth? 22. Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him back to see what shall be after him? (Ecclesiastes 3:18-22, ASV)
WEB
18. 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. 19. 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.
20. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
- Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?” 22. Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him? (Ecclesiastes 3:18-22, WEB)
KJV
18. 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. that God: or, that they might clear God, and see, etc 19. 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.
20. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
- Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? of man: Heb. of the sons of man goeth upward: Heb. is ascending, etc 22. Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? (Ecclesiastes 3:18-22, KJV)
YLT
18. I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves [are] beasts. 19. For an event [is to] the sons of man, and an event [is to] the beasts, even one event [is] to them; as the death of this, so [is] the death of that; and one spirit [is] to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole [is] vanity.
20. The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust.
- Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the spirit of the beast that is going down below to the earth? 22. And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it [is] his portion; for who doth bring him in to look on that which is after him? (Ecclesiastes 3:18-22, YLT)
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Setting
- Speaker: Qohelet, "the Preacher" (Ecclesiastes 1:1), traditionally Solomon
- Audience: readers of Israel's wisdom tradition weighing life "under the sun"
- Location: Jerusalem, where the Preacher "was king over Israel" (Ecclesiastes 1:12)
- Time period: traditionally c. 970-930 BC (Solomon's reign); many scholars date the book later, c. 450-200 BC
Theological reading
"All go unto one place" continues Qohelet's observation that man and beast share one fate in death (Ecclesiastes 3:19). The "one place" is the grave, the common destination of every body.
"All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" echoes the sentence in Eden: "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19), and the forming of man "of the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7). Job says the same, "man shall turn again unto dust" (Job 34:15), and the psalmist, "thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust" (Psalms 104:29).
The verse speaks about bodies, and it speaks from what can be seen. The question of the spirit comes next and is left open for the moment (Ecclesiastes 3:21), then answered at the close of the book: "the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7). See Ecclesiastes 3.19-21 and Resurrection of the Body.
Key words
Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.
- H0259 - echad, echad, Strong's H0259
- H7725 - shuv, shuv, Strong's H7725
Quoted in
Arguments and defeaters:
Concepts:
Why these four translations
ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.
The four:
- ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.
See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.