15 Whatever has happened ⌊in the past⌋ is present now. Whatever is going to happen ⌊in the future⌋ has already happened ⌊in the past⌋. God will call the past to account.
16 I saw something else under the sun:There is wickedness where justice should be found.There is wickedness where righteousness should be found.
17 I thought to myself, “God will judge righteous people as well as wicked people, because there is a specific time for every activity and every work that is done.”
18 I thought to myself, “God is going to test humans in order to show them that they are ⌊like⌋ animals.”
19 Humans and animals have the same destiny. One dies just like the other. All of them have the same breath ⌊of life⌋. Humans have no advantage over animals. All ⌊of life⌋ is pointless.
20 All ⌊life⌋ goes to the same place. All ⌊life⌋ comes from the ground, and all of it goes back to the ground.
21 Who knows whether a human spirit goes upward or whether an animal spirit goes downward to the earth?