Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

1Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—

2before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;

3when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;

4when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;

5when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets.

6Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well,

7and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

8“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. Or the leader of the assembly; also in verses 9 and 10 “Everything is meaningless!”