Ecclesiastes 3:18 Cross References - BSB

¹⁸ I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”

¹⁷ And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it will yield 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 out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

¹ “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. ² Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. ³ Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You? ⁴ Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

¹⁶ how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

⁸ Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

¹² But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.

¹⁴ Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

¹⁹ he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of day. ²⁰ A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.

¹⁸ Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. ¹⁹ How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

²² I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.

⁵ You whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning— ⁶ in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers. ⁷ For 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 For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh. ¹⁰ The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty if we are strong—yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. ¹¹ Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due. ¹² So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

⁴ Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”

²³ What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory—

²⁷ Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

²⁴ For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

¹² These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.