Ecclesiastes 12

1 and to remember [obj] to create you in/on/with day youth your till which not to come (in): come day [the] distress: evil and to touch year which to say nothing to/for me in/on/with them pleasure

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 till which not to darken [the] sun and [the] light and [the] moon and [the] star and to return: return [the] cloud 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/on/with day which/that to tremble to keep: guard [the] house: home and to pervert human [the] strength and to cease [the] to grind for to diminish and to darken [the] to see: see in/on/with window

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 to shut door in/on/with street in/on/with to abase voice: sound [the] mill and to arise: rise to/for voice: sound [the] bird and to bow all daughter [the] song

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 from high to fear and terror in/on/with way: journey and to spurn [the] almond and to bear [the] locust and to break [the] desire for to go: went [the] man to(wards) house: home forever: enduring his and to turn: turn (in/on/with street *L(abh)*) [the] to mourn

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 till which not (to bind *Q(K)*) cord [the] silver: money and to crush bowl [the] gold and to break jar upon [the] spring and to crush [the] wheel to(wards) [the] pit

[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 to return: return [the] dust upon [the] land: soil like/as which/that to be and [the] spirit to return: return to(wards) [the] God which to give: give her

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 vanity to say [the] preacher [the] all vanity

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

9 and advantage which/that to be preacher wise still to learn: teach knowledge [obj] [the] people and to ponder and to search be straight proverb to multiply

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 to seek preacher to/for to find word pleasure and to write uprightness word truth: true

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

11 word wise like/as goad and like/as nail to plant master: [master of] collection to give: give from to pasture one

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 advantage from them son: child my to warn to make scroll: book to multiply nothing end and study to multiply weariness 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 end word: thing [the] all to hear: hear [obj] [the] God to fear: revere and [obj] commandment his to keep: obey for this all [the] 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 [obj] all deed [the] God to come (in): bring in/on/with justice: judgement upon all to conceal if pleasant and if bad: evil

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