Eccl. 12
:1
12:1
Remember also your
aCreator in the days of your
byouth, before the
1evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, I have no pleasure in them;
C.
The sad portrait of man's old age
12:2-8
Eccl. 12
:2
12:2
Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are
1darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
Eccl. 12
:3
12:3
In the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the men of strength bow themselves and the women who grind cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows see dimly;
Eccl. 12
:4
12:4
And when the doors are shut on the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one arises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of
asong are brought low;
Eccl. 12
:5
12:5
When also
men are afraid of what is high, and terrors are on the way; and the almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper is a burden, and the caperberry is ineffective (for man will go to his everlasting home while mourners go around in the street);
Eccl. 12
:6
12:6
Before the silver cord is undone, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, and the wheel is broken at the cistern,
Eccl. 12
:7
12:7
And the
adust returns to the earth as it was, and the
bbreath returns to God who
cgave it.
Eccl. 12
:8
12:8
aVanity of vanity, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
Eccl. 12
:9
12:9
And in addition to being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered and studied and arranged many
aproverbs.
Eccl. 12
:10
12:10
The Preacher sought to find pleasing words, and he wrote words of truth rightly.
Eccl. 12
:11
12:11
The words of the wise are like goads, and like well-driven nails are the collections
of them; they are given by one
aShepherd.
Eccl. 12
:12
12:12
And of what is beyond these, my son, beware: Of the making of many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
IV.
The concluding word
12:13-14
Eccl. 12
:13
12:13
The end of the matter, when all has been heard,
is this:
1aFear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man.
Eccl. 12
:14
12:14
For God will bring every deed to
1ajudgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
