Ecclesiastes 12:1-12

1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—

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

3 when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;

4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;

5 when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets.

6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well,

7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.^[a]“Everything is meaningless!”

The Conclusion of the Matter

9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.

10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.^[b]

12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

Read Chapter Compare

Images for Ecclesiastes 12:1-12

Ecclesiastes 12:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 12

This chapter begins with advice to young men, which is continued from the preceding; and particularly to remember their Creator in the days of their youth; enforced from the consideration of the troubles and inconveniences of old age, Ec 12:1; which, in an allegorical way, is beautifully described, Ec 12:2-6; and from the certainty of death, when it would be too late, Ec 12:7. And then the wise man returns to his first proposition, and which he kept in view all along, that all is vanity in youth or old age, Ec 12:8; and recommends the reading of this book, from the diligence, pains and labour, he used in composing it; from the sententious matter in it; from the agreeable, acceptable, and well chosen words, in which he had expressed it; and from the wisdom, uprightness, truth, efficacy, and authority of the doctrines of it, Ec 12:9-11; and from its preference to other books, which were wearisome both to author and reader, Ec 12:12. And it is concluded with the scope and design, the sum and substance of the whole of it, reducible to these two heads; the fear of God, and obedience to him, Ec 12:13; and which are urged from the consideration of a future judgment, into which all things shall be brought, Ec 12:14.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 15

1. Ecclesiastes 11:8
2. S 2 Samuel 19:35
3. Jeremiah 25:10
4. S Job 17:13; Job 10:21
5. Jeremiah 9:17; Amos 5:16
6. S Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19; Job 34:15; S Psalms 146:4
7. Ecclesiastes 3:21
8. S Job 20:8; Zechariah 12:1
9. Ecclesiastes 1:1
10. S Ecclesiastes 1:2
11. 1 Kings 4:32
12. S Ecclesiastes 1:1
13. Proverbs 22:20-21
14. S Ezra 9:8; S Job 6:25
15. S Ecclesiastes 1:18

Footnotes 2

[a]. Or "the leader of the assembly" ; also in verses 9 and 10
[b]. Or "Shepherd"