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Journey of a Passage

Ecclesiastes 3:19–21

"Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward?"

Humans and animals share one fate and one breath (ruach); all go to one place, from dust to dust. Verse 21 is read two ways from the same letters: the Masoretic vowels make it a statement about two spirits ("the spirit of man that goeth upward"), the Greek and Latin a question ("who knows whether it goes upward?").

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The book as first writtenOften dated 4th–3rd century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The book as first written
Greek
  1. Greek Ecclesiastes (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 1st–2nd century AD (debated); French 1872Translated from the Greek Ecclesiastes
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Often dated 4th–3rd century BC (debated)

    The book as first written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Ecclesiastes are two Qumran fragments, 4Q109 (4QQoh-a, mid-2nd century BC, reported) and 4Q110 (4QQoh-b, reported).

  2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Idcirco unus interitus est hominis et jumentorum, et æqua utriusque conditio. Sicut moritur homo, sic et illa moriuntur. Similiter spirant omnia, et nihil habet homo jumento amplius: cuncta subjacent vanitati, et omnia pergunt ad unum locum. De terra facta sunt, et in terram pariter revertuntur. Quis novit si spiritus filiorum Adam ascendat sursum, et si spiritus jumentorum descendat deorsum?

    Latin numbering: Ecclesiastes 3:19–21. Jerome translated Ecclesiastes from Hebrew (c. AD 398), after writing a commentary on it (c. 388); the Vulgate is an indirect witness to a Hebrew text, with Jerome's interpretation.

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The book as first written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    כִּי֩ מִקְרֶ֨ה בְֽנֵי־הָאָדָ֜ם וּמִקְרֶ֣ה הַבְּהֵמָ֗ה וּמִקְרֶ֤ה אֶחָד֙ לָהֶ֔ם כְּמ֥וֹת זֶה֙ כֵּ֣ן מ֣וֹת זֶ֔ה וְר֥וּחַ אֶחָ֖ד לַכֹּ֑ל וּמוֹתַ֨ר הָאָדָ֤ם מִן־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ אָ֔יִן כִּ֥י הַכֹּ֖ל הָֽבֶל׃ הַכֹּ֥ל הוֹלֵ֖ךְ אֶל־מָק֣וֹם אֶחָ֑ד הַכֹּל֙ הָיָ֣ה מִן־הֶֽעָפָ֔ר וְהַכֹּ֖ל שָׁ֥ב אֶל־הֶעָפָֽר׃ מִ֣י יוֹדֵ֗עַ ר֚וּחַ בְּנֵ֣י הָאָדָ֔ם הָעֹלָ֥ה הִ֖יא לְמָ֑עְלָה וְר֙וּחַ֙ הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה הַיֹּרֶ֥דֶת הִ֖יא לְמַ֥טָּה לָאָֽרֶץ׃

    Who knows the breath of humans, (the one) going up above, and the breath of the beast, (the one) going down to the earth? (or: whether it goes up… whether it goes down)

    Hebrew numbering: Ecclesiastes 3:19–21.

  4. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

  5. Greek translation c. 1st–2nd century AD (debated); French 1872

    Greek Ecclesiastes (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Ecclesiastes

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Car le fils des hommes et la bête sont sujets aux mêmes accidents; la mort de celui-ci est la mort de celuilà, et le même souffle les anime tous: et qu’a l’homme de plus que la bête? rien; car tout est vanité. Toutes choses vont au même lieu; tout est sorti de la poussière, et tout retournera en poussière. Et qui a vu si le souffle des fils des hommes remonte en haut, ou si le souffle des bêtes descend en bas dans la terre?

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Ecclesiastes 3:19–21. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). A C check needs the Göttingen edition of Greek Ecclesiastes (P. J. Gentry, 2019).

What changed, and why

The difference lies in the vowels of two words (ha-olah, ha-yoredet): the Masoretes pointed the opening ha- as the article ("the one going up"), while the Greek (Giguet "si le souffle… remonte") and Vulgate (si spiritus… ascendat) read it as the interrogative particle ("whether"). Unpointed Hebrew allows both. Many scholars think the interrogative is the earlier sense and the Masoretic pointing reflects later belief in the soul's ascent; others defend the Masoretic reading.

Verse 20 echoes Genesis 3:19 (dust to dust); verse 19's ruach echoes Psalm 104:29. Ecclesiastes 12:7 later says the ruach returns to God who gave it, which applies to all breath of life.

Either way, the sentence begins "who knoweth": uncertainty about what can be known, not a denial of any afterlife.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Masoretic pointing of 3:21 reads statements; the Greek and Vulgate read questions.
  • DisputedThe question reading is original.
  • Conflicts with current evidence3:19–21 denies life after death. It expresses uncertainty.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Ecclesiastes 3: A Time for Everything →"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (3:1). Fourteen pairs of opposites follow: born and die, plant and uproot, kill and heal… war and peace (vv. 2–8). Humans cannot see the whole: God has made everything beautiful in its time and put "eternity" (or "the world") in their hearts, yet they cannot find out his work from beginning to end (vv. 9–15). Then injustice: wickedness sits in the place of judgment (v. 16). God will judge (v. 17), but humans and animals share one fate and one breath; "who knoweth" where the human spirit goes? (vv. 18–21). So enjoy your work: it is your portion (v. 22).
    • Investigation: The Fate of Humans and Animals →Ecclesiastes speaks of death more than any other book of the Bible: one fate for wise and fool (2:14–16), for humans and animals (3:19–20), for righteous and wicked (9:2–3); the dead know nothing (9:5); there is no work in Sheol (9:10); the dust returns to the earth and the ruach to God (12:7). This investigation reads these passages in their Hebrew setting and separates them from later doctrines of the afterlife.