1 Remember also your Creator inv[Lam. 3:27] the days of your youth, beforew[ch. 11:8] the evil days come and the years draw near of whichx[2 Sam. 19:35] you will say, “I have no pleasure in them ”; 2 beforey[Job 3:9; Isa. 5:30; Ezek. 32:7, 8] the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, andz[Gen. 27:1; 48:10; 1 Sam. 3:2] those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 anda[Ps. 141:3] the doors on the street are shut—whenb[Jer. 25:10; Rev. 18:22] the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and allc[ch. 2:8] the daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, andd[Prov. 26:13] terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,1Or is a burden and desire fails, because man is going to hise[Ps. 143:3] eternalf[Job 17:13; 30:23; Isa. 14:18] home, and theg[2 Chr. 35:25; Jer. 9:17; Matt. 9:23] mourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, orh[Zech. 4:2, 3] the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher isi[Isa. 30:14] shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 andjPs. 90:3; 103:14; See ch. 3:20; Job 34:15 the dust returns to the earth as it was, andk[ch. 3:21] the spirit returns to Godl[Job 34:14; Isa. 57:16; Zech. 12:1]; See Gen. 2:7 who gave it. 8 mch. 1:2 Vanity of vanities, saysnSee ch. 1:1 the Preacher; all is vanity.
9 Besides being wise,n[See ver. 8 above] the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arrangingoSee Prov. 1:1 many proverbs with great care. 10 n[See ver. 8 above] The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
11 pProv. 22:17 The words of the wise are like goads, and likeqEzra 9:8; Isa. 22:23 nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they arerProv. 1:6; 2:6 given bysPs. 80:1; Ezek. 34:23; John 10:11, 16 one Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of makingu[1 Kgs. 4:32, 33] many books there is no end, andv[ch. 1:18] much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard.wch. 5:7; Deut. 6:2; 10:12 Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.1Or the duty of all mankind 14 Forxch. 11:9; Job 19:29; Matt. 12:36; Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:16; 14:10, 12; 1 Cor. 4:5; [ch. 3:15, 17; Gen. 18:25; Ps. 58:11] God will bring every deed into judgment, with1Or into the judgment on every secret thing, whether good or evil.