Ecclesiastes 12

1 Remember nowe thy Creator in the daies of thy youth, whiles the euill daies come not, nor the yeeres approche, wherein thou shalt say, I haue 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 Whiles the sunne is not darke, nor ye light, nor the moone, nor the starres, nor the cloudes returne after the raine:

[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 When the keepers of ye house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow them selues, and the grinders shall cease, because they are few, and they waxe darke that looke out by ye windowes:

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 the doores shall be shut without by the base sound of the grinding, and he shall rise vp at the voice of the birde: and all the daughters of singing shall be abased.

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 Also they shalbe afraide of the hie thing, and feare shalbe in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grassehopper shall be a burden, and concupiscence shall be driuen away: for man goeth to the house of his age, and the mourners goe about in the streete.

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 Whiles the siluer coarde is not lengthened, nor the golden ewer broken, nor the pitcher broken at the well, nor the wheele broken at the cisterne:

[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 And dust returne to the earth as it was, and the spirit returne to God that gaue 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 Vanitie of vanities, saieth the Preacher, all is vanitie.

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

9 And the more wise the Preacher was, the more he taught the people knowledge, and caused them to heare, and searched foorth, and prepared many 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 to finde out pleasant wordes, and an vpright writing, euen the wordes of trueth.

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

11 The wordes of the wise are like goads, and like nailes fastened by the masters of the assemblies, which are giuen by one pastour.

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 of other things beside these, my sone, take thou heede: for there is none ende in making many bookes, and much reading is a wearines 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 Let vs heare the end of all: feare God and keepe his commandements: for this is the whole duetie of 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 euery worke vnto iudgement, with euery secret thing, whether it be good or euill.

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