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Ecclesiastes 12:7

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

KJV

et revertatur pulvis in terram suam unde erat, et spiritus redeat ad Deum, qui dedit illum.

Vulgate

καὶ ἐπιστρέψῃ ὁ χοῦς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὡς ἦν, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ἐπιστρέψῃ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὃς ἔδωκεν αὐτό.

LXX

and the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.

ASV

וְ/יָשֹׁ֧ב הֶ/עָפָ֛ר עַל הָ/אָ֖רֶץ כְּ/שֶׁ/הָיָ֑ה וְ/הָ/ר֣וּחַ תָּשׁ֔וּב אֶל הָ/אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר נְתָנָֽ/הּ

Hebrew

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In the original Hebrew

10 distinct Hebrew words appear in this verse.

אֲשֶׁר
'shr
particle · 5461×
אֶ֣רֶץ
'rts
noun · 2484×
אֶל
'l
preposition · 5475×
יְהִי֙
yhy
verb · 3549×
ךָ
k
noun · 2564×
ם
m
verb · 1995×
עַל
'l
noun · 5732×
עָפָ֥ר
'pr
noun · 109×
ר֣וּחַ
rvch
noun · 377×
שׁ֣וּב
shvb
verb · 1058×

Themes

Historic Christian voices

4 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§1007Death is the end of earthly life. Our lives are measured by time, in the course of which we change, grow old and, as with all living beings on earth, death seems like the normal end of life. That aspect of death lends urgency to our lives: remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment: Remember also your C…
Is the soul a body? Is the human soul a subsistence? Are the souls of brute animals subsistent? Is the soul man, or is man composed of soul and body? Is the soul composed of matter and form? Is the soul incorruptible? Is the soul of the same species as an angel? Article 1. Whether the soul is a body? Objection 1. It would seem that the soul is a body. For the soul is the moving…

Cross-references

  • 1Cor 7:29 — But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
  • Dan 12:2 — And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
  • Eccl 3:20 — All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
  • Eccl 3:20 — All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
  • Eccl 3:21 — Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
  • Gen 2:7 — And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
  • Gen 2:7 — And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
  • Gen 3:19 — In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
  • Gen 3:19 — In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
  • Gen 5:5 — And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
  • Gen 15:15 — And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
  • Gen 18:27 — And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes:
  • Gen 18:27 — And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes:
  • Heb 9:27 — And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
  • Heb 12:9 — Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
  • Heb 12:9 — Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
  • Heb 12:23 — To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
  • Isa 57:2 — He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.
  • Isa 57:16 — For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
  • Jas 2:26 — For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
  • Jer 38:16 — So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy l
  • Job 1:21 — And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
  • Job 3:19 — The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
  • Job 4:19 — How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
  • Job 7:21 — And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
  • Job 7:21 — And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
  • Job 10:9 — Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
  • Job 20:11 — His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
  • Job 26:4 — To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
  • Job 34:14 — If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
  • Job 34:15 — All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
  • Luke 24:39 — Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
  • Num 16:22 — And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
  • Num 16:22 — And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
  • Num 27:16 — Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
  • Ps 49:14 — Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
  • Ps 89:48 — What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.
  • Ps 90:3 — Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
  • Ps 90:3 — Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
  • Ps 103:14 — For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.