Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

Remember God in Your Youth

1 ¹Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before * * the ²evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them";

2 before * * the ³sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain;

3 in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men ⁴stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and ⁵those who look through windows grow dim;

4 and the doors on the street are shut as the ⁶sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the ⁷daughters of song will sing softly.

5 Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal ⁸home while ⁹mourners go about in the street.

6 Remember Him before * * the silver cord is broken and the ¹⁰golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed;

7 then the ¹¹dust will return to the earth as it was, and the ¹²spirit will return to ¹³God who gave it.

8 "¹⁴Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "all is vanity!"

Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 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.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 8:18; Nehemiah 4:14; Psalms 63:6; Psalms 119:55
• 2. Ecclesiastes 11:8
• 3. Isaiah 5:30; Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7, 8; Joel 3:15; Matthew 24:29
• 4. Psalms 35:14; Psalms 38:6
• 5. Genesis 27:1; Genesis 48:10; 1 Samuel 3:2
• 6. Jeremiah 25:10; Revelation 18:22
• 7. 2 Samuel 19:35
• 8. Job 17:13; Job 30:23
• 9. Genesis 50:10; Jeremiah 9:17
• 10. Zechariah 4:2, 3
• 11. Genesis 3:19; Job 34:15; Psalms 104:29; Ecclesiastes 3:20
• 12. Job 34:14; Ecclesiastes 3:21; Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59
• 13. Numbers 16:22; Numbers 27:16; Isaiah 57:16; Zechariah 12:1
• 14. Ecclesiastes 1:2

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "holes"
• [b]. Lit "be brought low"
• [c]. Lit "they"
• [d]. So with Gr; Heb "removed"
• [e]. Or "breath"