Ecclesiastes 3 · a question people ask
"Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward" (3:21). Is the Preacher saying that the human spirit goes up and an animal's goes down?
3:18-21 is what the Preacher says he said in his heart (3:18). He says that man and animal meet the same end: "As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath" (3:19), and "All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again" (3:20). Then he asks, "Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?" (3:21). In Hebrew breath in 3:19 and spirit in 3:21 are one word, ruach (tap spirit). Near its end the book says, "and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it" (12:7). Christians read 3:21 in two main ways, each resting on its verses. Both agree that the body returns to dust, as 3:20 says, and as God said to the man, "For you are dust, and you shall return to dust" (Genesis 3:19). Both agree that 12:7 is the book's own word on the spirit. These notes don't pick between them.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
An open question, seen under the sun
Those who read it this way hear 3:21 as the question it is, Who knows, asked by one looking at what is done "under the sun" (3:16). The next verse asks the same kind of question: "for who can bring him to see what will be after him?" (3:22). The book asks it again: "For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?" (6:12), and "For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?" (8:7). On this reading the Preacher says in 3:21 that no one can see where the spirit goes, and the book says more near its end: "the spirit returns to God who gave it" (12:7).
Ecclesiastes 3:16 · Ecclesiastes 3:21-22 · Ecclesiastes 6:12 · Ecclesiastes 8:7 · Ecclesiastes 12:7
The difference 12:7 names
Those who read it this way hear 3:21 setting two things side by side: the spirit of man, "whether it goes upward", and the spirit of the animal, "whether it goes downward to the earth" (3:21). They set it beside the book's words at the end, "and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it" (12:7), where the dust goes to the earth and the spirit to God. Just before, the Preacher said that man and animal "have all one breath" (3:19) and "All go to one place" (3:20); in 3:21 the two are given two directions. On this reading, after saying that man and animal alike die and turn to dust, the Preacher names in 3:21 the difference that 12:7 states.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 · Ecclesiastes 12:7
The verses
“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. 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. 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?””
“and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
“You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.””