1 Remember your Creator during the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years arrive when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
2 before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;
3 on the day when the keepers of the house tremble, the strong men bend, the women who grind stop because they have become few, and the women looking through the windows grow dim;
4 when they shut the doors in the marketplace because the voice of the woman grinding grows faint, when one rises at the sound of a sparrow, and all the daughters of song are brought low;
5 when they look out from a height and terrors are on the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the locust grows fat, and the caper is scattered—because a person has gone to his eternal home and the mourners circle through the marketplace;
6 before the silver cord is released, the golden flower is broken, the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, and the wheel runs down into the cistern;
7 before the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Utter Futility
8 “Utter futility. Everything is futile,”said the Speaker.
The Conclusion of the Matter
9 Besides being wise, the Speaker also taught the people knowledge, and the ear will trace the orderly arrangement of proverbs. 10 The Speaker diligently sought to find pleasing words, and what was written was upright—words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like cattle prods and like firmly planted nails. They were given from gathered collections by one shepherd, and there is more beyond them. 12 My son, beware of making many books: there is no end to them, and much study wearies the body. 13 The conclusion of the matter, now everything has been heard: fear God and keep his commands, because this is the whole person. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, along with everything overlooked, whether good or evil.