12 So remember your Creator during your youth!
Otherwise, troublesome days will come
and years will creep up on you when you’ll say,
        “I find no pleasure in them,”
² Otherwise, when the sun, daylight, moon, or stars turn dark,
    or when clouds fail to return after the rain—
³ when that day comes, the palace guards will tremble,
    strong men will stoop down,
women grinders will cease because they are few,
    and the sight of^[b] those who peer through the lattice will grow dim.
⁴ The doors to the street will be shut
    when the sound of grinding decreases,
when one wakes up at the song of a bird,
    and all of the singing women are silenced.
⁵ At that time they will fear climbing^[c] heights
    and dangers along the road
while the almond tree will blossom,
    and the grasshopper is weighed down.
Desire will cease,^[d]
    because the person goes to his eternal home,
        and mourners will gather in the marketplace.
⁶ When the silver cord is severed,
    the golden vessel is broken,
the pitcher is shattered at the fountain,
    and the wheel is broken at the cistern,
⁷ then man’s^[e] dust will go back to the earth,
    returning to what it was,
        and the spirit^[f] will return to the God who gave it.