Ecclesiastes 12:7
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
The wise and penitent preacher is here closing his sermon; and he closes it, not only lie a good orator, but like a good preacher, with that which was likely to make the best impressions and which he wished might be powerful and lasting upon his hearers. Here is, I. An exhortation to young people to begin betimes to be religious and not to put it off to old age (Ecc 12:1), enforced with arguments taken from the calamities of old age (Ecc 12:1-5). and the great change that death will make upon us (Ecc 12:6, Ecc 12:7). II. A repetition of the great truth he had undertaken to prove in this discourse, the vanity of the world (Ecc 12:8). III. A confirmation and recommendation of what he had written in this and his other books, as worthy to be duly weighed and concluded, with a charge to all to be truly religious, in consideration of the judgment to come (Ecc 12:13, Ecc 12:14).
Open source ↗12:7 the dust will return to the earth: See Gen 2:7; 3:19. • That the spirit will return to God who gave it hints at belief in an afterlife (cp. Eccl 3:21; see “The Afterlife” Theme Note).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.
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.”
For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.
This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”
The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust.
“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
But King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you, nor will I deliver you into the hands of these men who are seeking your life.”