Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Youth and Old Age

⁷ Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.^(A)

⁸ Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all, yet let them remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.^(B)

⁹ Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.^(C)

¹⁰ Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.^(D)

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 have no pleasure in them”; ² before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with^[a] the rain; ³ in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly; ⁴ when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low;^{(E) 5} when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,^[b] and the caper bud falls; because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets;^{(F) 6} before the silver cord is snapped,^[c] and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, ⁷ and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath^[d] returns to God who gave it.^{(G) 8} Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity.