Ecclesiastes 12

Advice to the Young: Life is Short and Then You Die

1Remember your Creator in the days of your youth—

and the years draw near when you will say,

2Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars darken

3When the guards of the house tremble,

the grinders cease because they are few,

4When the doors on the street are shut,

one rises up to the sound of the bird,

5They are afraid of heights,

The almond tree blossoms,

because man goes to his eternal home,

6Before the silver cord is snapped

and the jar at the foundation is broken,

7And the dust returns to the earth as it was,

Motto Restated

8“Vanity of vanity!” says the Teacher.[#Hebrew “Qohelet”]

Epilogue

9The Teacher was full of wisdom, and he taught the people with knowledge. He carefully considered many proverbs and carefully arranged them.[#Hebrew “Qohelet”]

10The Teacher sought to find delightful words, and he wrote what is upright—truthful words.[#Hebrew “Qohelet”; #Hebrew “words of delight”; #The MT reads the term passively, “what is written,” but an alternate textual tradition reads, “and he wrote”]

11The words of the wise are like cattle goads; the collections of the sages are like pricks inflicted by one shepherd.[#Or “The owner of collections are given by one shepherd”]

12My son, be careful about anything beyond these things. For the writing of books is endless, and too much study is wearisome.[#Literally “but from more than them”; #Literally “increases weariness of flesh”]

13Now that all has been heard, here is the final conclusion:

14For God will bring every deed into judgment,

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