Ecclesiastes 12
1 Remember 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;
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 In 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,
4 And 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;
5 Also 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:
6 Or 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.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
9 And 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.
10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
World Behind This Chapter
Explore the people, places, language, history, and material world connected to Ecclesiastes 12.
What is happening in the “keepers of the house” poem?
The poem uses household, street, weather, animal, and plant imagery to portray aging and approaching death. Scholars debate how precisely each image maps onto anatomy; the poem works even without a one-to-one medical key.
Who speaks in the epilogue about Qoheleth?
Ecclesiastes 12:9–14 shifts into third person—“Qoheleth was wise”—which many scholars identify as a framing or editorial voice. How that epilogue relates to the preceding discourse is an important compositional question.
What are the “goads” and “well-driven nails” of the wise?
Goads are tools used to direct animals; the metaphor imagines wise sayings as pointed prompts that move a learner. The paired “nails” or “pegs” suggest something firmly fixed, though the exact syntax is difficult.
WORTH A CLOSER LOOK
Open an ancient Near Eastern writing board
Ecclesiastes 12:12 turns explicitly to the making of many books and the work of study. These hinged ivory panels from Neo-Assyrian Nimrud held wax writing surfaces for a stylus. They are not from Judah and predate Ecclesiastes, but they make the physical technology of composing, copying, and storing lengthy texts in the ancient Near East tangible.
View the objectCompare the two Qumran witnesses to Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes is represented at Qumran by 4Q109 and 4Q110. Their fragmentary survival is small, but these manuscripts are important for the book’s textual history and for setting an upper boundary on how late its composition can plausibly be.
Examine the manuscriptResearch PathsCurated links for exploring this chapter 3
Language & Literature2
- The Aging Poem and the Epilogues of EcclesiastesYale Bible Study
Explains Ecclesiastes 12:1–8 as a dense poetic portrayal of aging and death, then identifies several editorial voices in verses 9–14. The guide helps readers distinguish Qoheleth’s concluding poem from later comments that describe, defend, and finally qualify his teaching.
- The Silver Cord, Golden Bowl, and Broken Well EquipmentTranslation Insights and Perspectives
Examines the difficult images in Ecclesiastes 12:6, including the silver cord, golden bowl, broken jar, and shattered wheel at a well. It surveys interpretations involving jewelry, lamps, and water-drawing equipment and shows how the images collectively portray the irreversible breakdown of life.
Artifacts & Manuscripts1
- 4Q Qohelet: An Ancient Ecclesiastes ManuscriptIsrael Antiquities Authority
Digital manuscript record for one of the Ecclesiastes scrolls discovered at Qumran. Although the surviving fragment does not preserve chapter 12, it gives readers direct evidence that Ecclesiastes circulated in Hebrew during the Second Temple period, not long after the book’s likely final composition and editing.
Public Discussion
Your display name and comment can be seen by anyone visiting this chapter. Do not include private or sensitive information. Read the Community Guidelines.
You must be logged in to post a comment.