Ecclesiastes 12King James Version
The famous closing poem on old age. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh. Then comes the elegiac picture: the keepers of the house shall tremble, the grinders cease, the daughters of music be brought low, the grasshopper shall be a burden. Or ever the silver cord be loosed. Then dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. The conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years arrive when you say I have no pleasure in them. The poem of aging follows: keepers of the house tremble, strong men bow, grinders cease, the golden bowl breaks, the dust returns to earth and the spirit to God. Then the final editor speaks: Qoheleth was wise and taught knowledge. Of making many books there is no end. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. God will bring every work into judgment.
Time is running in one direction, the body is failing, and the only answer that survives the whole book's investigation is this: fear God, keep his commandments, and account for everything.
13: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." After twelve chapters of relentless questioning, the conclusion is not a philosophical resolution but a moral one.
The poem of aging in verses 2 to 7 is one of the most beautiful pieces of sustained metaphor in all of scripture: the sun darkened, the keepers of the house trembling, the grinders ceasing, the silver cord loosed, the golden bowl broken. It is a body shutting down, described in the language of a house falling into ruin. It ends with the dust returning to earth and the spirit to God who gave it. After that, there is nothing left to say but the conclusion.
Qoheleth, delivering his final instruction to the young. A second voice, the editor or epilogist, steps forward in verse 9 to evaluate and frame the Preacher's work. This is the only place in the book where someone else speaks about Qoheleth rather than as him.
The closing of Ecclesiastes has been debated for centuries: is it a tidy orthodox conclusion pasted onto a subversive book, or is it the honest destination of the whole inquiry? Either way, the book was preserved in the canon largely because of this ending. The tension between the unresolved questioning of the interior and the resolved command at the close is the book's final gift.
For the late nights when you have questioned everything and arrived back at something old and simple. The book does not pretend the questions were not real. It just refuses to end with them unanswered.
1Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
4And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
5Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
6Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
8Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
9And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.