Ecclesiastes 3:18 meaning and explanation
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.”
Ecclesiastes 3:18, Berean Standard Bible
Explanation preview
The speaker is the Teacher, a wisdom figure reflecting on what he has observed "under the sun." Having just affirmed that God will judge the righteous and the wicked, he turns to the raw mortality that humans share with animals. The Hebrew word for "tests" carries the sense of sifting or refining, and the point is that God lets people see their own creatureliness.
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