Ecclesiastes 12

1 But remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youthful vigor, while the evil days are not yet come, nor those years draw nigh of which thou wilt 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 the light, and the moon, and the stars, are not yet darkened, and the clouds return not again 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 On the day when the watchmen of the house will tremble and the men of might will bend themselves, and the grinders stand idle, because they are become few, and those be darkened that look through the windows;

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 when the two doors on the streets will be locked, while the sound of the mill becometh dull, and man riseth up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of song are 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 Also when men will be afraid of every elevation, and are terrified on every way, and the almond-tree will refuse [its blossom], and the locust will drag itself slowly along, and the desire will gainsay compliance; because man goeth to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets;

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 While the silver cord is not yet torn loose, and the golden bowl is not crushed, and the pitcher is not broken at the fountain, and the wheel is not crushed at 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 When the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return unto 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, saith Koheleth: all is vanity.—

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

9 And in addition to this that Koheleth was wise, he continually also taught the people knowledge, and he probed, and searched out, and composed many proverbs.

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 Koheleth sought to find out acceptable words, and that which would be written down uprightly, 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 like goads, and like nails fastened [are the words of] the men of the assemblies, which are given by one shepherd.

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 But more than all these, my son, take warning for thyself: the making of many books would have no end; and much preaching 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 The end of the matter is, let us hear the whole: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole [duty 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 every deed will God bring into the judgment concerning every thing that hath been hidden, whether it be good, or whether it be bad.

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