View source for Ecclesiastes 12

==Ecclesiastes 12==

Go back to [["The Burial of the Dead" Annotations]]

New International Version (NIV)


1.  Remember your Creator
::in the days of your youth,
::before the days of trouble come
::and the years approach when 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.  when the keepers of the house tremble,
::and the strong men stoop,
::when the grinders cease because they are few,
::and those looking through the windows grow dim;

4.  when the doors to the street are closed
::and the sound of grinding fades;
::when people rise up at the sound of birds,
::but all their songs grow faint;

5.  when people are afraid of heights
::and of dangers in the streets;
::when the almond tree blossoms
::and the grasshopper drags itself along
::and desire no longer is stirred.
::Then people go to their eternal home
::and mourners go about the streets.

6.  Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
::and the golden bowl is broken;
::before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
::and the wheel broken at the well,

7.  and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
::and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

8.  “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.[a]
::“Everything is meaningless!”