Ecclesiastes 12

1Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years arrive when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars go dark, and the clouds return after the rain; 3in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, and the grinding women stop because they are few, and those who look out through the windows go dim; 4when the doors on the street are shut, as the sound of the mill drops low; when one rises at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; 5when they are afraid of what is high, and terrors are in the road; when the almond tree blossoms, and the locust drags itself along, and the caper berry bursts. For man is going to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the street; 6before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is shattered, and the jar is broken at the spring, and the wheel is smashed at the well; 7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8A breath of breaths, said the Qohelet. Everything is a breath.

The end of the matter

9And beyond being wise himself, Qohelet went on teaching the people knowledge; he weighed and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10Qohelet sought to find pleasing words, and what is written here is upright — words of truth.* 11The words of the wise are like goads, and the masters of the collections are like nails driven deep; they were given by one shepherd. 12And beyond these, my son, be warned: of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the flesh. 13The end of the matter, when all has been heard: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man. 14For God will bring every deed into judgment, together with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.