Ecclesiastes 12:1-6

¹Also call to mind your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of difficulty come, and before the years arrive when you say, “I have no pleasure in them,”

²do this before the light of the sun and the moon and the stars grows dark, and dark clouds return after the rain.

³That will be the time when the palace guards will tremble, and strong men are bent over, and the women who grind cease because they are few, and those who look out of windows no longer see clearly.

⁴That will be the time when the doors are shut in the street, and the sound of grinding stops, when men are startled at the voice of a bird, and the singing of girls' voices fades away.

⁵That will be the time when men become afraid of heights and of dangers along on the road, and when the almond tree blossoms, and when grasshoppers drag themselves along, and when natural desires fail. Then man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go down the streets.

⁶Call to mind your Creator before the silver cord is cut, or the golden bowl is crushed, or the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the water wheel is broken at the well,