Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 12

¹ And remember your creator in the days of your youth, before evil days come and the years approach when you say, ‘These give me no pleasure’,

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

³ the day when those who keep the house tremble[*a] and strong men are bowed; when the women grind no longer at the mill, because day is darkening at the windows

⁴ and the street doors are shut; when the sound of the mill is faint, when the voice of the bird is silenced, and song notes are stilled,

⁵ when to go uphill is an ordeal and a walk is something to dread. Yet the almond tree is in flower, the grasshopper is heavy with food and the caper bush bears its fruit, while man goes to his everlasting home. And the mourners are already walking to and fro in the street

⁶ before the silver cord has snapped, or the golden lamp been broken, or the pitcher shattered at the spring, or the pulley cracked at the well,

⁷ Or before the dust returns to the earth as it once came from it; and the breath to God who gave it.

⁸ Vanity of vanities, Qoheleth says. All is vanity.

⁹ Besides being a sage, Qoheleth also taught his knowledge to the people, having weighed, studied and amended a great many proverbs.

¹⁰ Qoheleth tried to write in an attractive style and to set down truthful thoughts in a straight-forward manner.

¹¹ The words of the sages are like goads, like pegs driven deep; a shepherd uses these for the good of his flocks.

¹² One last thing, my son, be warned that writing books involves endless hard work, and that much study wearies the body.

¹³ To sum up the whole matter: fear God, and keep his commandments, since this is the whole duty of man.

¹⁴ For God will call all hidden deeds, good or bad, to judgement.