Ecclesiastes 12:1–7

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

12Remember also your Creator in ^vthe days of your youth, before ^wthe evil days come and the years draw near of which ^xyou will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; ²before ^ythe sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, ³in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and ^zthose who look through the windows are dimmed, ⁴and ^athe doors on the street are shut—when ^bthe sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all ^cthe daughters of song are brought low— ⁵they are afraid also of what is high, and ^dterrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,¹ and desire fails, because man is going to his ^eeternal ^fhome, and the ^gmourners go about the streets— ⁶before the silver cord is snapped, or ^hthe golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is ⁱshattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, ⁷and ^jthe dust returns to the earth as it was, and ^kthe spirit returns to God ^lwho gave it.