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 also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when you will 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. before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and 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 tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look through the windows are dimmed,

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 on the street are shut; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of song are 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. they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails; because man goes to his eternal 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. before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is 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. and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

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

8. Vanity of vanities, says 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. Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging proverbs with great care.

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

10. The Preacher sought to find pleasing words, and uprightly he wrote 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 sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings which are given by one Shepherd.

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

12. My son, beware of anything beyond these. 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. The end of the matter; all has been heard. 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 will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.