Remember Your Creator in Your Youth
1 Remember also your Creator in
1the days of your youth, before
2the evil days come and the years draw near of which
3you will say, "I have no pleasure in them";
2
before
4the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,
3
in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and
5those who look through the windows are dimmed,
4
and
6the doors on the street are shut--when
7the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all
8the daughters of song are brought low--
5
they are afraid also of what is high, and
9terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his
10eternal
11home, and the
12mourners go about the streets--
6
before the silver cord is snapped, or
13the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is
14shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
7
and
15the dust returns to the earth as it was, and
16the spirit returns to God
17who gave it.
8
18Vanity of vanities, says
19the Preacher; all is vanity.
Fear God and Keep His Commandments
9 Besides being wise,
20the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging
21many proverbs with great care.
10
22The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
11
23The words of the wise are like goads, and like
24nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are
25given by
26one Shepherd.
12
My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making
27many books there is no end, and
28much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13
The end of the matter; all has been heard.
29Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
14
For
30God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.