Eclesiastés 12
1 Y ten memoria de tu Criador en los días de tu juventud, antes que vengan los malos días, y lleguen los años, de los cuales digas: No tengo en ellos contentamiento.
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 Antes que se oscurezca el sol, y la luz, y la luna, y las estrellas; y las nubes se tornen tras la lluvia:
[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 Cuando temblarán las guardas de la casa, y se encorvarán los hombres fuertes, y cesarán las muelas, y se disminuirán; y se oscurecerán los que miran por las ventanas;
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 Y las puertas de afuera se cerrarán por la bajeza de la voz de la muela; y se levantará a la voz del ave, y todas las hijas de canción serán humilladas:
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 Cuando también temerán de lo alto, y los tropezones en el camino; y florecerá el almendro, y cargarse ha la langosta, y perderse ha el apetito; porque el hombre va a la casa de su siglo, y los endechadores por la plaza andarán en derredor.
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 Antes que la cadena de plata se quiebre, y se rompa la lenteja de oro, y el cántaro se quiebre junto a la fuente, y la rueda sea rompida sobre el pozo;
[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 Y el polvo se torne a la tierra, como era antes, y el espíritu se vuelva a Dios, que le dio.
Then our corpses will [decay and] become dirt again, and our spirits will return to God, the one who gave us our spirits.
8 Vanidad de vanidades, dijo el Predicador, todo vanidad.
[So] I say [again] that it is difficult to understand why everything happens; everything is mysterious.
9 Y cuanto más el Predicador fue sabio, tanto más enseñó sabiduría al pueblo, e hizo escuchar, e hizo escudriñar; y compuso muchos proverbios.
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 Procuró el Predicador hallar palabras agradables, y escritura recta, palabras de verdad.
I searched for the right words, and what I have written is reliable and true.
11 Las palabras de los sabios son como aguijones, y como clavos hincados de los maestros de las congregaciones, puestas debajo de un pastor.
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 Y además de esto, hijo mío, sé avisado: no hay fin de hacer muchos libros; y el mucho estudio aflicción es de la carne.
[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 El fin de todo el sermón es oído: teme a Dios, y guarda sus mandamientos, porque esto es el todo del hombre.
[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 Porque Dios traerá toda obra en juicio, el cual se hará sobre toda cosa oculta, buena, o mala.
And do not forget that God will judge everything that we do, good things and bad things, [even] things that we do secretly.
