Ecclesiastes - 3:20



20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Ecclesiastes 3:20.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they return together.
All go unto one place: all are of the dust, and all return to dust.
The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust.
All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all will be turned to dust again.
And all things continue on to one place; for from the earth they were made, and unto the earth they shall return together.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

All go unto one place -
"Man was born
To die, nor aught exceeds in this respect
The vilest brute. Both transient, frail, and vain,
Draw the same breath; alike grow old, decay,
And then expire: both to one grave descend;
There blended lie, to native dust return'd."
- C.

All go unto one place,.... The earth (w) from whence they came;
all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again; Adam's body was made of the dust of the earth, and so all his posterity, all of them; in which they agree with beasts, who are made of the dust also; and, when they die, return to it; see Genesis 2:7.
(w) "Magna parens terra est", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 7.

"All goes hence to one place; all has sprung out of the dust, and all returns to the dust again." The "one place" is (as at Ecclesiastes 6:6) the earth, the great graveyard which finally receives all the living when dead. The art. of the first העפר is that denoting species; the art. of the second is retrospective: to the dust whence he sprang (cf. Psalm 104:29; Psalm 146:4); otherwise, Genesis 3:19 (cf. Job 34:15), "to dust shalt thou return," shalt become dust again. From dust to dust (Sir. 40:11; 41:10) is true of every living corporeal thing. It is true there exists the possibility that with the spirit of the dying man it may be different from what it is with the spirit of the dying beast, but yet that is open to question.

One place - To the earth, out of which they were taken. All turn - All their bodies.

*More commentary available at chapter level.


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