Ecclesiastes 3:17-19

International Standard Version

¹⁷ I told myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked, because there is a time set to judge^[a] every event and every work.”

¹⁸ “As for human beings,” I told myself, “God puts them to the test, that they might see themselves as mere animals.” ¹⁹ For what happens to people also happens to animals—a single event happens to them: just as someone dies, so does the other. In fact, they all breathe the same way, so that a human being has no superiority over an animal. All of this is pointless.