Ecclesiastes 3:18

Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man, that God is testing them to show them that they are like animals.

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Other Translations

Referenced Verses

  • Ps 73:22 : 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.
  • Gen 3:17-19 : 17 To Adam He said, 'Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, "You must not eat from it," cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.' 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return.
  • Job 14:1-4 : 1 Man, born of a woman, is short-lived and full of trouble. 2 He springs up like a flower and withers away; he flees like a shadow and does not endure. 3 Do you fix your gaze on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? 4 Who can bring what is pure out of the unclean? No one.
  • Job 15:16 : 16 How much less is a man, who is detestable and corrupt, one who drinks iniquity like water!
  • Job 40:8 : 8 Would you indeed annul My justice? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?
  • Ps 49:12 : 12 Their inward thought is that their houses will last forever, and their dwelling places for all generations; they call their lands by their own names.
  • Ps 49:14 : 14 This is their fate, their foolish confidence. And yet, after them, people approve their words. Selah.
  • Ps 49:19-20 : 19 Though he blesses himself during his lifetime, and people praise you when you prosper, 20 They will go to the generation of their fathers; they will never see the light again.
  • Ps 51:4 : 4 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
  • Ps 73:18-19 : 18 Surely, You place them on slippery ground; You cast them down to destruction. 19 How suddenly they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
  • Ps 90:5-9 : 5 You sweep them away like a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that springs up in the morning— 6 In the morning it flourishes and grows, but by evening it withers and dries up. 7 We are consumed by your anger, and terrified by your wrath. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a sigh. 10 The span of our life is seventy years—or eighty, if we have strength; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. 12 Teach us to number our days carefully, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
  • Rom 3:4 : 4 Absolutely not! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: "So that You may be justified in Your words and prevail when You are judged."
  • Rom 9:23 : 23 And what if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of mercy, whom he prepared beforehand for glory—
  • Heb 9:27 : 27 And just as it is appointed for humans to die once, and after that comes judgment,
  • 1 Pet 1:24 : 24 For, "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off,
  • 2 Pet 2:12 : 12 These people, however, are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They speak abusively about things they do not understand, and in their destruction, they too will 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 the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over animals, for everything is meaningless.

    20All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

    21Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down to the earth?

    22So I saw that there is nothing better than for a person to rejoice in their work, for that is their lot. Who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

  • Eccl 2:14-15
    2 verses
    79%

    14The wise have eyes in their heads, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that the same fate overtakes them both.

    15Then I said in my heart, 'What happens to the fool will also happen to me. So why have I been so very wise?' And I concluded in my heart, 'This too is meaningless.'

  • Eccl 9:3
    78%

    3This is the distressing thing about everything that happens under the sun: the same fate befalls all. Moreover, the hearts of humans are full of evil, and madness resides in their hearts during their lives; and after that, they join the dead.

  • Eccl 3:15-17
    3 verses
    78%

    15Whatever has already been, and what will be has already been; and God seeks what has been pursued.

    16And I saw under the sun, in the place of judgment, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well.

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

  • Eccl 3:10-12
    3 verses
    77%

    10I have seen the burden that God has laid on the human race.

    11He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

    12I know that there is nothing better for people than to rejoice and to do good while they live.

  • Eccl 1:13-14
    2 verses
    77%

    13I set my heart to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a burdensome task God has given to the human race to occupy themselves with!

    14I have seen all the deeds that are done under the sun; they are all meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

  • Eccl 2:1-3
    3 verses
    76%

    1I said to myself, 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure to see what is good.' But behold, this too was meaningless.

    2I said of laughter, 'It is madness,' and of joy, 'What does it accomplish?'

    3I explored with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, while my mind guided me with wisdom, and how to embrace folly until I could see what is good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

  • Eccl 6:11-12
    2 verses
    75%

    11The more words, the more meaningless—and what advantage does that bring to anyone?

    12For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few days of their fleeting life? They pass like a shadow. Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?

  • Eccl 1:16-17
    2 verses
    75%

    16I said to myself, 'Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled Jerusalem before me. I have experienced much wisdom and knowledge.'

    17Then I set my heart to understand wisdom, as well as madness and folly, but I learned that this too is a chasing after the wind.

  • Eccl 9:1
    74%

    1So I reflected on all this and set my heart to examine it: that the righteous, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. People do not know whether love or hatred awaits them; everything lies before them.

  • Eccl 8:14
    74%

    14There is a futility that takes place on the earth: righteous people receive what the wicked deserve, and wicked people receive what the righteous deserve. I said, 'This too is vanity.'

  • Job 18:3
    74%

    3Why are we regarded as animals and considered unclean in your eyes?

  • Eccl 2:17-20
    4 verses
    74%

    17So I hated life, because the work done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

    18I hated all my toil under the sun because I must leave it to the one who comes after me.

    19And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will rule over all the fruit of my labor that I have worked for under the sun. This too is meaningless.

    20So I turned my heart to despair over all the hard work with which I had labored under the sun.

  • Eccl 8:9-11
    3 verses
    74%

    9I observed all this as I considered all the work done under the sun: a time when one man has power over another to hurt them.

    10Then I saw the wicked buried, who used to go in and out of the holy place, but now they are forgotten in the city where they acted this way. This too is meaningless.

    11When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do evil.

  • Eccl 8:16-17
    2 verses
    74%

    16When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to observe the work that is done on earth, even though people do not see sleep with their eyes day or night,

    17then I saw all the work of God, that no one can understand the work that is done under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can comprehend it. Even if the wise claim to know, they cannot truly understand it.

  • Eccl 6:1
    74%

    1There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is great upon humanity.

  • Eccl 2:11-12
    2 verses
    73%

    11Yet when I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, behold, everything was meaningless—a chasing after the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

    12So I turned my attention to consider wisdom, madness, and folly. For what can anyone do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done.

  • Ps 8:7
    73%

    7You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet—

  • Eccl 12:8
    72%

    8'Utter futility,' says the Teacher. 'Everything is futile!'

  • Eccl 1:2-3
    2 verses
    72%

    2“Utterly meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

    3What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

  • Eccl 9:13
    72%

    13I also saw this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

  • Ps 49:12
    72%

    12Their inward thought is that their houses will last forever, and their dwelling places for all generations; they call their lands by their own names.

  • Eccl 8:6
    72%

    6For every purpose there is a proper time and procedure, though the misery of mankind weighs heavily upon them.

  • Eccl 2:24
    71%

    24There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in their work. This too, I realized, is from the hand of God.

  • Ps 49:20
    71%

    20They will go to the generation of their fathers; they will never see the light again.

  • Eccl 2:22
    71%

    22What does a person gain from all their labor and from the striving of their heart under the sun?

  • Eccl 7:25
    71%

    25I turned my mind to understand, to investigate, and to search out wisdom and the meaning of things, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.

  • Job 7:17
    71%

    17What is mankind that you make so much of them, that you give them so much attention,

  • Eccl 4:3
    71%

    3But better than both is the one who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.