Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 (AMP):
1REMEMBER
[earnestly] also your Creator [that you are not your own, but His
property now] in the days of your youth, before the evil days come or
the years draw near when you will say [of physical pleasures], I have
no enjoyment in them--
2Before the sun and the light and the
moon and the stars are darkened [sight is impaired], and the clouds
[of depression] return after the rain [of tears];
3In the day when the keepers of the
house [the hands and the arms] tremble, and the strong men [the feet
and the knees] bow themselves, and the grinders [the molar teeth]
cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows [the
eyes] are darkened;
4When the doors [the lips] are shut
in the streets and the sound of the grinding [of the teeth] is low,
and one rises up at the voice of a bird and the crowing of a cock, and
all the daughters of music [the voice and the ear] are brought low;
5Also when [the old] are afraid of
danger from that which is high, and fears are in the way, and the
almond tree [their white hair] blooms, and the grasshopper [a little
thing] is a burden, and desire and appetite fail, because man goes to
his everlasting home and the mourners go about the streets or
marketplaces.
6[Remember your Creator earnestly
now] before the silver cord [of life] is snapped apart, or the golden
bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel
broken at the cistern [and the whole circulatory system of the blood
ceases to function];
7Then shall the dust [out of which
God made man's body] return to the earth as it was, and the spirit
shall return to God Who gave it.
8Vapor of vapors and futility of
futilities, says the Preacher. All is futility (emptiness, falsity,
vainglory, and transitoriness)!
9And furthermore, because the
Preacher was wise, he [Solomon] still taught the people knowledge; and
he pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.
10The Preacher sought acceptable
words, even to write down rightly words of truth or correct sentiment.
11The words of the wise are like
prodding goads, and firmly fixed [in the mind] like nails are the
collected sayings which are given [as proceeding] from one Shepherd.
12But about going further [than the
words given by one Shepherd], my son, be warned. Of making many books
there is no end [so do not believe everything you read], and much
study is a weariness of the flesh.
13All has been heard; the end of the
matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and
keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full,
original purpose of his creation, the object of God's providence, the
root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to
all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the
whole [duty] for every man.
14For God shall bring every work into
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.
