Ecclesiastes 12

1 And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the days of evil come, and the years overtake [thee] in which thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

While you are still young, keep thinking about [God], who created you. Do that before [you are old] and you experience many troubles, during the years when you say “I no [longer] enjoy being alive.”

2 While the sun and light are not darkened, nor the moon and the stars; nor the clouds return after the rain:

[When you become old], the light from the sun and moon and stars will [seem] dim [to you], and [it will seem that the rain] clouds [always] return [quickly] after it rains.

3 in the day wherein the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the mighty men shall become bent, and the grinding [women] cease because they have become few, and the [women] looking out at the windows be dark;

Then your [arms that you use to protect] [MET] your bodies will shake/tremble, and your [legs that support] [MET] your bodies will become weak. Many of your [teeth that you use to] grind/chew [your food] will fall out, and your [eyes that you use to] look out of windows will not see clearly.

4 and they shall shut the doors in the market-place, because of the weakness of the voice of her that grinds [at the mill]; and he shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, and all the daughters of song shall be brought low;

Your [ears] [MET] will not hear the noise in the streets, and you will not be able to hear clearly the sound of people grinding grain with millstones. You will be awakened in the morning by hearing the birds singing/chirping, [but] you will not be able to hear well the songs that (the birds/people) sing.

5 and they shall look up, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the locust shall increase, and the caper shall be scattered: because man has gone to his eternal home, and the mourners have gone about the market:

You will be afraid to be in high places and afraid of dangers on the roads that you walk on. [Your hair] will become [white like] [MET] the flowers of almond trees. [When you try to walk], you will drag yourself along like [MET] grasshoppers, and you will no longer desire [to have sex]. Then you will [die and] go to your eternal home, and people who will mourn for you will be in the streets.

6 before the silver cord be [let go], or the choice gold be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel run down to the cistern;

[Think much about God now, because] soon our lives will end, [like] [MET] silver chains or golden bowls that break easily, or like pitchers/jugs that are broken at the water fountain, or like broken pulleys at a well.

7 [before] the dust also return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it.

Then our corpses will [decay and] become dirt again, and our spirits will return to God, the one who gave us our spirits.

8 Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher; all is vanity.

[So] I say [again] that it is difficult to understand why everything happens; everything is mysterious.

9 And because the Preacher was wise above [others, so it was] that he taught man excellent knowledge, and the ear will trace out the parables.

I was considered to be a very wise man, and I taught the people many things. I assembled/collected and wrote down many proverbs, and I carefully thought about and studied them.

10 The Preacher sought diligently to find out acceptable words, and a correct writing, [even] words of truth.

I searched for the right words, and what I have written is reliable and true.

11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails firmly fastened, which have been given from one shepherd by agreement.

The things that [I and other] wise people say [teach people what they should do]; they are like [SIM] (goads/sharp sticks that people use to strike animals to direct where they should go). They are like [SIM] nails that stick out of pieces of wood. They are given to us by [God, who is like] [MET] our shepherd.

12 And moreover, my son, guard thyself by means of them: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

[So], my son, pay careful attention to what I have written, and choose carefully what you read that others have written, [because] writing proverbs/books is endless, and [trying to] study them all will cause you to become exhausted.

13 Hear the end of the matter, the sun: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole man.

[Now] you have heard all [that I have told you], and here is the conclusion: Revere God, and obey his commandments, because those commandments summarize everything that people should do.

14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with everything that has been overlooked, whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil.

And do not forget that God will judge everything that we do, good things and bad things, [even] things that we do secretly.