Ecclesiastes 12:1-12

1 Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them";

2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain;

3 in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly;

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

5 when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails; because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets;

6 before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern,

7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it.

8 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity.

9 Besides being wise, the Teacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs.

10 The Teacher sought to find pleasing words, and he wrote words of truth plainly.

11 The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd.

12 Of anything beyond these, my child, beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-12 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or [after]+!; Heb ["ahar]
• [b]. Or [is a burden]
• [c]. Syr Vg Compare Gk: Heb [is removed]
• [d]. Or [the spirit]
• [e]. [Qoheleth], traditionally rendered [Preacher]
• [f]. [Qoheleth], traditionally rendered [Preacher]
• [g]. [Qoheleth], traditionally rendered [Preacher]
• [h]. Meaning of Heb uncertain