Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

1 And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the days of evil come, and the years overtake in which thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

2 While the sun and light are not darkened, nor the moon and the stars; nor the clouds return after the rain:

3 in the day wherein the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the mighty men shall become bent, and the grinding cease because they have become few, and the looking out at the windows be dark;

4 and they shall shut the doors in the market-place, because of the weakness of the voice of her that grinds ; and he shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, and all the daughters of song shall be brought low;

5 and they shall look up, and fears in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the locust shall increase, and the caper shall be scattered: because man has gone to his eternal home, and the mourners have gone about the market:

6 before the silver cord be , or the choice gold be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel run down to the cistern;

7 the dust also return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 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.