Ecclesiastes 12:3-13

3 Then your arms, that have protected you, will tremble, and your legs, now strong, will grow weak. Your teeth will be too few to chew your food, and your eyes too dim to see clearly.

4 Your ears will be deaf to the noise of the street. You will barely be able to hear the mill as it grinds or music as it plays, but even the song of a bird will wake you from sleep.

5 You will be afraid of high places, and walking will be dangerous. Your hair will turn white; you will hardly be able to drag yourself along, and all desire will be gone. We are going to our final resting place, and then there will be mourning in the streets.

6 The silver chain will snap, and the golden lamp will fall and break; the rope at the well will break, and the water jar will be shattered.

7 Our bodies will return to the dust of the earth, and the breath of life will go back to God, who gave it to us.

8 Useless, useless, said the Philosopher. It is all useless.

9 But because the Philosopher was wise, he kept on teaching the people what he knew. He studied proverbs and honestly tested their truth.

10 The Philosopher tried to find comforting words, but the words he wrote were honest.

11 The sayings of the wise are like the sharp sticks that shepherds use to guide sheep, and collected proverbs are as lasting as firmly driven nails. They have been given by God, the one Shepherd of us all.

12 My child, there is something else to watch out for. There is no end to the writing of books, and too much study will wear you out.

13 After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.

Ecclesiastes 12:3-13 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.