12 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth—
    before the days of trouble come
and the years draw near when you will say,
    “I find no pleasure in them!”
² Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars darken
    and the clouds return after the rain.
³ When the guards of the house tremble,
    and the men of strength are bent;
the grinders cease because they are few,
    and those looking through the windows see dimly.
⁴ When the doors on the street are shut,
    when the sound of the grinding mill is low;
one rises up to the sound of the bird,
    and all the daughters of song are brought low.
⁵ They are afraid of heights,
    and terrors are on the road.
The almond tree blossoms,
    and the grasshopper draws itself along, and desire fails
because man goes to his eternal home,
    and the mourners go about in the streets.
⁶ Before the silver cord is snapped
    and the golden bowl is broken;
and the jar at the foundation is broken,
    and the wheel at the cistern is broken.
⁷ And the dust returns to the earth as it was,
    and the breath returns to God who gave it.

⁸ “Vanity of vanity!” says the Teacher.^[a]
    “Everything is vanity!”