Ecclesiastes 3:18

American Standard Version (1901)

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.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Ps 73:22 : 22 So brutish was I, and ignorant; I was [as] a beast before thee.
  • Gen 3:17-19 : 17 And 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 toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
  • Job 14:1-4 : 1 Man, that is born of a woman, Is of few days, and full of trouble. 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one, And bringest me into judgment with thee? 4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
  • Job 15:16 : 16 How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water!
  • Job 40:8 : 8 Wilt thou even annul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be justified?
  • Ps 49:12 : 12 But man [being] in honor abideth not: He is like the beasts that perish.
  • Ps 49:14 : 14 They are appointed as a flock for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume, That there be no habitation for it.
  • Ps 49:19-20 : 19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never see the light. 20 Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, Is like the beasts that perish.
  • Ps 51:4 : 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, And done that which is evil in thy sight; That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, And be clear when thou judgest.
  • Ps 73:18-19 : 18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places: Thou castest them down to destruction. 19 How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.
  • Ps 90:5-9 : 5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. 6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; In the evening it is cut down, and withereth. 7 For we are consumed in thine anger, And in thy wrath are we troubled. 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: We bring our years to an end as a sigh. 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger, And thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee? 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.
  • Rom 3:4 : 4 God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment.
  • Rom 9:23 : 23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory,
  • Heb 9:27 : 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this [cometh] judgment;
  • 1 Pet 1:24 : 24 For, All flesh is as grass, And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth:
  • 2 Pet 2:12 : 12 But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed,

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eccl 3:19-22
    4 verses
    86%

    19For 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.

    20All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

    21Who knoweth the spirit of man, whether it goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goeth downward to the earth?

    22Wherefore 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?

  • Eccl 2:14-15
    2 verses
    79%

    14The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness: and yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all.

    15Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then said I in my heart, that this also is vanity.

  • Eccl 9:3
    78%

    3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead.

  • Eccl 3:15-17
    3 verses
    78%

    15That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.

    16And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

    17I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

  • Eccl 3:10-12
    3 verses
    77%

    10I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

    11He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.

    12I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.

  • Eccl 1:13-14
    2 verses
    77%

    13And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

    14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

  • Eccl 2:1-3
    3 verses
    76%

    1I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.

    2I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it?

    3I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding [me] with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their life.

  • Eccl 6:11-12
    2 verses
    75%

    11Seeing there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?

    12For who knoweth what is good for man in [his] life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

  • Eccl 1:16-17
    2 verses
    75%

    16I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom above all that were before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

    17And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also was a striving after wind.

  • Eccl 9:1
    74%

    1For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them.

  • Eccl 8:14
    74%

    14There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

  • Job 18:3
    74%

    3Wherefore are we counted as beasts, [And] are become unclean in your sight?

  • Eccl 2:17-20
    4 verses
    74%

    17So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

    18And I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

    19And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet will he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

    20Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun.

  • Eccl 8:9-11
    3 verses
    74%

    9All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt.

    10So I saw the wicked buried, and they came [to the grave] ; and they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city: this also is vanity.

    11Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

  • Eccl 8:16-17
    2 verses
    74%

    16When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes), [

    17then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

  • Eccl 6:1
    74%

    1There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:

  • Eccl 2:11-12
    2 verses
    73%

    11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

    12And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been done long ago.

  • Ps 8:7
    73%

    7All sheep and oxen, Yea, and the beasts of the field,

  • Eccl 12:8
    72%

    8Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.

  • Eccl 1:2-3
    2 verses
    72%

    2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

    3What profit hath man of all his labor wherein he laboreth under the sun?

  • Eccl 9:13
    72%

    13I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me:

  • Ps 49:12
    72%

    12But man [being] in honor abideth not: He is like the beasts that perish.

  • Eccl 8:6
    72%

    6for to every purpose there is a time and judgment; because the misery of man is great upon him:

  • Eccl 2:24
    71%

    24There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

  • Ps 49:20
    71%

    20Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, Is like the beasts that perish.

  • Eccl 2:22
    71%

    22For what hath a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, wherein he laboreth under the sun?

  • Eccl 7:25
    71%

    25I turned about, and my heart [was set] to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason [of things], and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness.

  • Job 7:17
    71%

    17What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him,

  • Eccl 4:3
    71%

    3yea, better than them both [did I esteem] him that hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.