⁷ He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;^(A)
    they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

⁸ Lord our God,
    you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,^(B)
    though you punished^(C) their misdeeds.^[a]

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^(A) to the ground it came from,
    and the spirit returns to God^(B) who gave it.^(C)

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