Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹ A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
Unless Adonai builds the house,
    the builders labor in vain.
Unless Adonai watches over the city,
    the watchman stands guard in vain.
² In vain you rise up early and stay up late,
    eating the bread of toil—
for He provides for His beloved ones even in their sleep.

12 So remember your Creator
    in the days of your youth:
before the days of misery come,
    and years draw near when you will say:
    “I have no pleasure in them”—
² before the sun and light and moon
and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds dissipate after the rain,
³ in the day the keepers of the house tremble,
    and the strong men stoop,
when grinders stop because they are few,
    and those peering out windows grow dim,
⁴ when doors are shut in the street
    and the sound of the mill fades,
when one arises at the chirp of a bird
    and all their songs grow faint,
⁵ when they also are afraid of heights
    and of dangers on the road,
when the almond tree blossoms,
    the grasshopper drags itself along,
    and the caper berry fails to excite—
for a man is going to his eternal home,
    and mourners go about in the street—
⁶ before the silver cord is snapped,
    or the golden bowl is crushed,
    or the jug at the cistern is shattered,
or the wheel at the well is broken.
⁷ Then the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.