Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

The Twilight of Life

1 So remember your Creator in the days of your youth: Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, "I have no delight in them";

2 before the sun and the light are darkened, and the moon and the stars, and the clouds return after^[a] the rain;

3 on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, the women who grind cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,

4 and the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song grow faint.

5 Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring,^[b] and the caper berry has no effect; for man is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will walk around in the street;

6 before the silver cord is snapped,^[c] and the golden bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken into the well;

7 and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.^[d]

8 "Absolute futility," says the Teacher. "Everything is futile."

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or with
• [b]. Or grasshopper is weighed down, or grasshopper drags itself along
• [c]. Alt Hb tradition reads removed
• [d]. Ec 3:21; Gn 2:7; 3:19