12 1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I find no pleasure in them. 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; 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 who look through the windows grow dim; a a v3 These verses are an extended poetic picture of the body failing in old age and the approach of death — the trembling hands, bent frame, lost teeth, and dimming eyes. 4 when the doors on the street are shut and the sound of the grinding grows faint; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; 5 when they are afraid of heights, and terrors lie in the road; when the almond tree blossoms, and 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 cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is shattered, or the pitcher is broken at the spring, or the wheel is broken at the well, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 "Utterly fleeting," says the Teacher. "Everything is fleeting.
The Teacher's Craft
9 Besides being wise, the Teacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and searching out and arranging many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find pleasing words, and what he wrote was upright and true. 11 The words of the wise are like sharp prods, and like firmly fixed nails are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 And beyond these, my son, take warning: of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
13 The end of the matter, when all has been heard: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of every person. b b v13 Ecclesiastes closes where it began — Qoheleth speaks of God in the distant register of one searching "under the sun." Jesus comes to bring our Father near (John 14:9). 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.