Ecclesiastes 3:18

Bible in Basic English (1941)

I said in my heart, It is because of the sons of men, so that God may put them to the test and that they may see themselves as beasts.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Ps 73:22 : 22 As for me, I was foolish, and without knowledge; I was like a beast before you.
  • Gen 3:17-19 : 17 And to Adam he said, Because you gave ear to the voice of your wife and took of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take, the earth is cursed on your account; in pain you will get your food from it all your life. 18 Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food; 19 With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back.
  • Job 14:1-4 : 1 As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble. 2 He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again. 3 Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him? 4 If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible.
  • Job 15:16 : 16 How much less one who is disgusting and unclean, a man who takes in evil like water!
  • Job 40:8 : 8 Let them be covered together in the dust; let their faces be dark in the secret place of the underworld.
  • Ps 49:12 : 12 But man, like the animals, does not go on for ever; he comes to an end like the beasts.
  • Ps 49:14 : 14 Death will give them their food like sheep; the underworld is their fate and they will go down into it; their flesh is food for worms; their form is wasted away; the underworld is their resting-place for ever.
  • Ps 49:19-20 : 19 He will go to the generation of his fathers; he will not see the light again. 20 Man, like the animals, does not go on for ever; he comes to an end like the beasts.
  • Ps 51:4 : 4 Against you, you only, have I done wrong, working that which is evil in your eyes; so that your words may be seen to be right, and you may be clear when you are judging.
  • Ps 73:18-19 : 18 You put their feet where there was danger of slipping, so that they go down into destruction. 19 How suddenly are they wasted! fears are the cause of their destruction.
  • Ps 90:5-9 : 5 ... 6 In the morning it is green; in the evening it is cut down, and becomes dry. 7 We are burned up by the heat of your passion, and troubled by your wrath. 8 You have put our evil doings before you, our secret sins in the light of your face. 9 For all our days have gone by in your wrath; our years come to an end like a breath. 10 The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone. 11 Who has knowledge of the power of your wrath, or who takes note of the weight of your passion? 12 So give us knowledge of the number of our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.
  • Rom 3:4 : 4 In no way: but let God be true, though every man is seen to be untrue; as it is said in the Writings, That your words may be seen to be true, and you may be seen to be right when you are judged.
  • Rom 9:23 : 23 And to make clear the wealth of his glory to vessels of mercy, which he had before made ready for glory,
  • Heb 9:27 : 27 And because by God's law death comes to men once, and after that they are judged;
  • 1 Pet 1:24 : 24 For it is said, All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass becomes dry and the flower dead:
  • 2 Pet 2:12 : 12 But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others;

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%

    19 Because the fate of the sons of men and the fate of the beasts is the same. As is the death of one so is the death of the other, and all have one spirit. Man is not higher than the beasts; because all is to no purpose.

    20 All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all will be turned to dust again.

    21 Who is certain that the spirit of the sons of men goes up to heaven, or that the spirit of the beasts goes down to the earth?

    22 So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work--because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?

  • Eccl 2:14-15
    2 verses
    79%

    14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the foolish man goes walking in the dark; but still I saw that the same event comes to them all.

    15 Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 9:3
    78%

    3 This is evil in all things which are done under the sun: that there is one fate for all, and the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; while they have life their hearts are foolish, and after that--to the dead.

  • Eccl 3:15-17
    3 verses
    78%

    15 Whatever is has been before, and what is to be is now; because God makes search for the things which are past.

    16 And again, I saw under the sun, in the place of the judges, that evil was there; and in the place of righteousness, that evil was there.

    17 I said in my heart, God will be judge of the good and of the bad; because a time for every purpose and for every work has been fixed by him.

  • Eccl 3:10-12
    3 verses
    77%

    10 I saw the work which God has put on the sons of man.

    11 He has made everything right in its time; but he has made their hearts without knowledge, so that man is unable to see the works of God, from the first to the last.

    12 I am certain that there is nothing better for a man than to be glad, and to do good while life is in him.

  • Eccl 1:13-14
    2 verses
    77%

    13 And I gave my heart to searching out in wisdom all things which are done under heaven: it is a hard thing which God has put on the sons of men to do.

    14 I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; all is to no purpose, and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 2:1-3
    3 verses
    76%

    1 I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.

    2 Of laughing I said, It is foolish; and of joy--What use is it?

    3 I made a search with my heart to give pleasure to my flesh with wine, still guiding my heart with wisdom, and to go after foolish things, so that I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under the heavens all the days of their life.

  • Eccl 6:11-12
    2 verses
    75%

    11 There are words without number for increasing what is to no purpose, but what is man profited by them?

    12 Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?

  • Eccl 1:16-17
    2 verses
    75%

    16 I said to my heart, See, I have become great and am increased in wisdom more than any who were before me in Jerusalem--yes, my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.

    17 And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.

  • Eccl 9:1
    74%

    1 All this I took to heart, and my heart saw it all: that the upright and the wise and their works are in the hand of God; and men may not be certain if it will be love or hate; all is to no purpose before them.

  • Eccl 8:14
    74%

    14 There is a thing which is to no purpose done on the earth: that there are good men to whom is given the same punishment as those who are evil, and there are evil men who get the reward of the good. I say that this again is to no purpose.

  • Job 18:3
    74%

    3 Why do we seem as beasts in your eyes, and as completely without knowledge?

  • Eccl 2:17-20
    4 verses
    74%

    17 So I was hating life, because everything under the sun was evil to me: all is to no purpose and desire for wind.

    18 Hate had I for all my work which I had done, because the man who comes after me will have its fruits.

    19 And who is to say if that man will be wise or foolish? But he will have power over all my work which I have done and in which I have been wise under the sun. This again is to no purpose.

    20 So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken and all my wisdom under the sun.

  • Eccl 8:9-11
    3 verses
    74%

    9 All this have I seen, and have given my heart to all the work which is done under the sun: there is a time when man has power over man for his destruction.

    10 And then I saw evil men put to rest, taken even from the holy place; and they went about and were praised in the town because of what they had done. This again is to no purpose.

    11 Because punishment for an evil work comes not quickly, the minds of the sons of men are fully given to doing evil.

  • Eccl 8:16-17
    2 verses
    74%

    16 When I gave my mind to the knowledge of wisdom and to seeing the business which is done on the earth (and there are those whose eyes see not sleep by day or by night),

    17 Then I saw all the work of God, and that man may not get knowledge of the work which is done under the sun; because, if a man gives hard work to the search he will not get knowledge, and even if the wise man seems to be coming to the end of his search, still he will be without knowledge.

  • Eccl 6:1
    74%

    1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is hard on men;

  • Eccl 2:11-12
    2 verses
    73%

    11 Then I saw all the works which my hands had made, and everything I had been working to do; and I saw that all was to no purpose and desire for wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

    12 And I went again in search of wisdom and of foolish ways. What may the man do who comes after the king? The thing which he has done before.

  • Ps 8:7
    73%

    7 All sheep and oxen, and all the beasts of the field;

  • Eccl 12:8
    72%

    8 All things are to no purpose, says the Preacher, all is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 1:2-3
    2 verses
    72%

    2 All is to no purpose, said the Preacher, all the ways of man are to no purpose.

    3 What is a man profited by all his work which he does under the sun?

  • Eccl 9:13
    72%

    13 This again I have seen under the sun as wisdom and it seemed great to me.

  • Ps 49:12
    72%

    12 But man, like the animals, does not go on for ever; he comes to an end like the beasts.

  • Eccl 8:6
    72%

    6 For every purpose there is a time and a decision, because the sorrow of man is great in him.

  • Eccl 2:24
    71%

    24 There is nothing better for a man than taking meat and drink, and having delight in his work. This again I saw was from the hand of God.

  • Ps 49:20
    71%

    20 Man, like the animals, does not go on for ever; he comes to an end like the beasts.

  • Eccl 2:22
    71%

    22 What does a man get for all his work, and for the weight of care with which he has done his work under the sun?

  • Eccl 7:25
    71%

    25 I gave my mind to knowledge and to searching for wisdom and the reason of things, and to the discovery that sin is foolish, and that to be foolish is to be without one's senses.

  • Job 7:17
    71%

    17 What is man, that you have made him great, and that your attention is fixed on him,

  • Eccl 4:3
    71%

    3 Yes, happier than the dead or the living seemed he who has not ever been, who has not seen the evil which is done under the sun.