Ecclesiastes 12:7

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the life’s breath returns to God who gave it.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Gen 3:19 : 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
  • Ps 146:4 : 4 Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground; on that day their plans die.
  • Gen 2:7 : 7 The LORD God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
  • Dan 12:2 : 2 Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake– some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence.
  • Zech 12:1 : 1 The Repentance of Judah This is an oracle, the LORD’s message concerning Israel: The LORD– he who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, who forms the human spirit within a person– says,
  • Eccl 3:20-21 : 20 Both go to the same place, both come from the dust, and to dust both return. 21 Who really knows if the human spirit ascends upward, and the animal’s spirit descends into the earth?
  • Isa 57:16 : 16 For I will not be hostile forever or perpetually angry, for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, the life-giving breath I created.
  • Job 34:14-15 : 14 If God were to set his heart on it, and gather in his spirit and his breath, 15 all flesh would perish together and human beings would return to dust.
  • Ps 90:3 : 3 You make mankind return to the dust, and say,“Return, O people!”
  • Heb 12:9 : 9 Besides, we have experienced discipline from our earthly fathers and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life?
  • Heb 12:23 : 23 and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect,
  • Jer 38:16 : 16 So King Zedekiah made a secret promise to Jeremiah and sealed it with an oath. He promised,“As surely as the LORD lives who has given us life and breath, I promise you this: I will not kill you or hand you over to those men who want to kill you.”
  • Gen 18:27 : 27 Then Abraham asked,“Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord(although I am but dust and ashes),
  • Num 16:22 : 22 Then they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said,“O God, the God of the spirits of all people, will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?”
  • Num 27:16 : 16 “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all humankind, appoint a man over the community,
  • Job 4:19-20 : 19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth? 20 They are destroyed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
  • Job 7:21 : 21 And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and you will seek me diligently, but I will be gone.”
  • Job 20:11 : 11 His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

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
    83%

    19For the fate of humans and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting.

    20Both go to the same place, both come from the dust, and to dust both return.

    21Who really knows if the human spirit ascends upward, and the animal’s spirit descends into the earth?

    22So I perceived there is nothing better than for people to enjoy their work, because that is their reward; for who can show them what the future holds?

  • Job 34:14-15
    2 verses
    81%

    14If God were to set his heart on it, and gather in his spirit and his breath,

    15all flesh would perish together and human beings would return to dust.

  • Eccl 12:5-6
    2 verses
    80%

    5and they are afraid of heights and the dangers in the street; the almond blossoms grow white, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry shrivels up– because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets–

    6before the silver cord is removed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the well, or the water wheel is broken at the cistern–

  • Eccl 12:8
    79%

    8Concluding Refrain: Qoheleth Restates His Thesis“Absolutely futile!” laments the Teacher,“All of these things are futile!”

  • Ps 146:4
    77%

    4Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground; on that day their plans die.

  • Ps 104:29-30
    2 verses
    75%

    29When you ignore them, they panic. When you take away their life’s breath, they die and return to dust.

    30When you send your life-giving breath, they are created, and you replenish the surface of the ground.

  • Job 7:9-10
    2 verses
    75%

    9As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears, so the one who goes down to the grave does not come up again.

    10He returns no more to his house, nor does his place of residence know him any more.

  • Gen 3:19
    74%

    19By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”

  • Eccl 4:7
    74%

    7Labor Motivated by Greed So I again considered another futile thing on earth:

  • Job 14:10-12
    3 verses
    74%

    10But man dies and is powerless; he expires– and where is he?

    11As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up,

    12so man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor arise from their sleep.

  • Ps 90:3
    73%

    3You make mankind return to the dust, and say,“Return, O people!”

  • Eccl 5:15-16
    2 verses
    72%

    15Just as he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked will he return as he came, and he will take nothing in his hand that he may carry away from his toil.

    16This is another misfortune: Just as he came, so will he go. What did he gain from toiling for the wind?

  • Eccl 1:2-7
    6 verses
    72%

    2Introduction: Utter Futility“Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher,“Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”

    3Futility Illustrated from Nature What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth?

    4A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains the same through the ages.

    5The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries away to a place from which it rises again.

    6The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north; round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns.

    7All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full, and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again.

  • Eccl 12:1-2
    2 verses
    72%

    1Fear God Now Because Old Age and Death Come Quickly So remember your Creator in the days of your youth– before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you will say,“I have no pleasure in them”;

    2before the sun and the light of the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds disappear after the rain;

  • Eccl 6:11-12
    2 verses
    72%

    11The more one argues with words, the less he accomplishes. How does that benefit him?

    12For no one knows what is best for a person during his life– during the few days of his fleeting life– for they pass away like a shadow. Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth.

  • Eccl 7:2
    71%

    2It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart.

  • Gen 2:7
    70%

    7The LORD God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

  • Ps 103:16
    70%

    16but when the hot wind blows by, it disappears, and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

  • Job 16:22
    70%

    22For the years that lie ahead are few, and then I will go on the way of no return.

  • Eccl 2:11
    70%

    11Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, I concluded:“All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless– like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained from them on earth.”

  • Job 17:16
    70%

    16Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”

  • 2 Sam 14:14
    70%

    14Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored.

  • Ps 144:4
    70%

    4People are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears.

  • Eccl 9:10
    69%

    10Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, the place where you will eventually go.

  • Eccl 8:10
    69%

    10Contradictions to the Law of Retribution Not only that, but I have seen the wicked approaching and entering the temple, and as they left the holy temple, they boasted in the city that they had done so. This also is an enigma.

  • Job 14:2
    69%

    2He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain.

  • Job 38:38
    69%

    38when the dust hardens into a mass, and the clumps of earth stick together?

  • Job 13:12
    69%

    12Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

  • Job 21:26
    69%

    26Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both.

  • Eccl 11:8
    69%

    8So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many– all that is about to come is obscure.

  • Eccl 3:15
    69%

    15Whatever exists now has already been, and whatever will be has already been; for God will seek to do again what has occurred in the past.

  • Eccl 8:8
    69%

    8Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, so no one has power over the day of his death. Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked.

  • Eccl 4:16
    69%

    16There is no end to all the people nor to the past generations, yet future generations will not rejoice in him. This also is profitless and like chasing the wind.