Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Advice to the Young: Life is Short and Then You Die

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 find no pleasure in them!"

2 Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars darken and the clouds return after the rain.

3 When the guards of the house tremble, and the men of strength are bent; the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows see dimly.

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

5 They are afraid of heights, and terrors [are] on the road. The almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper draws itself along, and desire fails because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets.

6 Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken; and the jar at the foundation is broken, and the wheel at the cistern is broken.

7 And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns 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.