Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—
2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;
3 when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;
4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;
5 when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets.
6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.[a]“Everything is meaningless!”

Images for Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

Cross References 10

  • 1. Ecclesiastes 11:8
  • 2. S 2 Samuel 19:35
  • 3. Jeremiah 25:10
  • 4. S Job 17:13; Job 10:21
  • 5. Jeremiah 9:17; Amos 5:16
  • 6. S Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19; Job 34:15; S Psalms 146:4
  • 7. Ecclesiastes 3:21
  • 8. S Job 20:8; Zechariah 12:1
  • 9. Ecclesiastes 1:1
  • 10. S Ecclesiastes 1:2

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "the leader of the assembly" ; also in verses 9 and 10
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