Ecclesiastes 12:4-14

4 and ¹the doors on the street are shut--when ²the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all ³the daughters of song are brought low--

5 they are afraid also of what is high, and ⁴terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,^[a] and desire fails, because man is going to his ⁵eternal ⁶home, and the ⁷mourners go about the streets--

6 before the silver cord is snapped, or ⁸the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is ⁹shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,

7 and ¹⁰the dust returns to the earth as it was, and ¹¹the spirit returns to God ¹²who gave it.

8 ¹³Vanity of vanities, says ¹⁴the Preacher; all is vanity.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

9 Besides being wise, ¹⁵the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging ¹⁶many proverbs with great care.

10 ¹⁷The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

11 ¹⁸The words of the wise are like goads, and like ¹⁹nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are ²⁰given by ²¹one Shepherd.

12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making ²²many books there is no end, and ²³much study is a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. ²⁴Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.^[b]

14 For ²⁵God will bring every deed into judgment, with^[c] every secret thing, whether good or evil.

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Ecclesiastes 12:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 12

This chapter begins with advice to young men, which is continued from the preceding; and particularly to remember their Creator in the days of their youth; enforced from the consideration of the troubles and inconveniences of old age, Ec 12:1; which, in an allegorical way, is beautifully described, Ec 12:2-6; and from the certainty of death, when it would be too late, Ec 12:7. And then the wise man returns to his first proposition, and which he kept in view all along, that all is vanity in youth or old age, Ec 12:8; and recommends the reading of this book, from the diligence, pains and labour, he used in composing it; from the sententious matter in it; from the agreeable, acceptable, and well chosen words, in which he had expressed it; and from the wisdom, uprightness, truth, efficacy, and authority of the doctrines of it, Ec 12:9-11; and from its preference to other books, which were wearisome both to author and reader, Ec 12:12. And it is concluded with the scope and design, the sum and substance of the whole of it, reducible to these two heads; the fear of God, and obedience to him, Ec 12:13; and which are urged from the consideration of a future judgment, into which all things shall be brought, Ec 12:14.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 25

1. [Psalms 141:3]
2. [Jeremiah 25:10; Revelation 18:22]
3. [Ecclesiastes 2:8]
4. [Proverbs 26:13]
5. [Psalms 143:3]
6. [Job 17:13; Job 30:23; Isaiah 14:18]
7. [2 Chronicles 35:25; Jeremiah 9:17; Matthew 9:23]
8. [Zechariah 4:2, 3]
9. [Isaiah 30:14]
10. Psalms 90:3; Psalms 103:14; See Ecclesiastes 3:20; Job 34:15
11. [Ecclesiastes 3:21]
12. [Job 34:14; Isaiah 57:16; Zechariah 12:1]; See Genesis 2:7
13. Ecclesiastes 1:2
14. See Ecclesiastes 1:1
15. [See ver. 8 above]
16. See Proverbs 1:1
17. [See ver. 8 above]
18. Proverbs 22:17
19. Ezra 9:8; Isaiah 22:23
20. Proverbs 1:6; Proverbs 2:6
21. Psalms 80:1; Ezekiel 34:23; John 10:11, 16
22. [1 Kings 4:32, 33]
23. [Ecclesiastes 1:18]
24. Ecclesiastes 5:7; Deuteronomy 6:2; Deuteronomy 10:12
25. Ecclesiastes 11:9; Job 19:29; Matthew 12:36; Acts 17:31; Romans 2:16; Romans 14:10, 12; 1 Corinthians 4:5; [Ecclesiastes 3:15, 17; Genesis 18:25; Psalms 58:11]

Footnotes 3

[a]. Or is a burden
[b]. Or the duty of all mankind
[c]. Or into the judgment on

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.