Ecclesiastes, 12

1. Remember your Creator while you are still young, before the bad days come, before the years come which, you will say, give you no pleasure;

1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

2. before the sun and the light grow dim and the moon and stars, before the clouds return after the rain;

2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

3. the time when your watchmen become shaky, when strong men are bent double, when the women, one by one, quit grinding, and, as they look out of the window, find their sight growing dim.

3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

4. When the street-door is kept shut, when the sound of grinding fades away, when the first cry of a bird wakes you up, when all the singing has stopped;

4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;

5. when going uphill is an ordeal and you are frightened at every step you take- yet the almond tree is in flower and the grasshopper is weighed down and the caper-bush loses its tang; while you are on the way to your everlasting home and the mourners are assembling in the street;

5. Also [when] they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

6. before the silver thread snaps, or the golden bowl is cracked, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the pulley broken at the well-head:

6. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

7. the dust returns to the earth from which it came, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

8. Sheer futility, Qoheleth says, everything is futile.

8. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all [is] vanity.

9. Besides being a sage, Qoheleth taught the people what he himself knew, having weighed, studied and emended many proverbs.

9. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, [and] set in order many proverbs.

10. Qoheleth took pains to write in an attractive style and by it to convey truths.

10. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and [that which was] written [was] upright, [even] words of truth.

11. The sayings of a sage are like goads, like pegs positioned by shepherds: the same shepherd finds a use for both.

11. The words of the wise [are] as goads, and as nails fastened [by] the masters of assemblies, [which] are given from one shepherd.

12. Furthermore, my child, you must realise that writing books involves endless hard work, and that much study wearies the body.

12. And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh.

13. To sum up the whole matter: fear God and keep his commandments, for that is the duty of everyone.

13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.

14. For God will call all our deeds to judgement, all that is hidden, be it good or bad.

14. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil.