Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

English Standard Version

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

12 Remember also your Creator in ^(A)the days of your youth, before ^(B)the evil days come and the years draw near of which ^(C)you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; ² before ^(D)the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, ³ in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and ^(E)those who look through the windows are dimmed, ⁴ and ^(F)the doors on the street are shut—when ^(G)the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all ^(H)the daughters of song are brought low— ⁵ they are afraid also of what is high, and ^(I)terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,^[a] and desire fails, because man is going to his ^(J)eternal ^(K)home, and the ^(L)mourners go about the streets— ⁶ before the silver cord is snapped, or ^(M)the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is ^(N)shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, ⁷ and ^(O)the dust returns to the earth as it was, and ^(P)the spirit returns to God ^(Q)who gave it.