Ecclesiastes, 12

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;

1. Be mindful of your Creator when you are young, before the time of sorrow comes when you have to say, "This gives me no pleasure,"

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

2. and before the sun, moon and stars withdraw their light, before the clouds gather again after the rain.

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,

3. On the day when the guardians of the house tremble, when sturdy men are bowed and those at the mill stop working because they are too few, when it grows dim for those looking through the windows,

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;

4. and the doors are shut and the noise of the mill grows faint, the sparrow stops chirping and the bird-song is silenced,

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:

5. when one fears the slopes and to walk is frightening; yet the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is fat and the caperberry bears fruit that serves no purpose, because man goes forward to his eternal home and mourners gather in the street,

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.

6. even before the silver chain is snapped or the golden globe is shattered, before the pitcher is broken at the fountain or the wheel at the mill,

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

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

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

8. Meaningless! meaningless! the Teacher says; all is meaningless!

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.

9. Besides being a wise man Qoheleth taught the people; he listened, studied and classified a great number of proverbs.

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

10. Qoheleth tried to write in a pleasant style and express frankly words of truth.

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

11. The words of the wise are spurs, their collected sayings are like a fence whose many pegs have been assembled by one shepherd.

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.

12. Beware, my son, of searching beyond. Writing many books would be useless, and intense study wearies the body.

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

13. Conclusion: fear God and obey his precepts; for man depends entirely on this.

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

14. God brings every deed to judgment, all that is hidden, be it good or bad.