Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

¹Remember your Creator while you are young, before days of trouble come and you grow old, saying, “I'm not enjoying life anymore.”

²Before the light fades—sun, moon, and stars—and rain clouds return to darken the skies.

³Before the guards of the house tremble and the strong men are bent over, the grinders stop working because there are only a few left, and the ones looking through the windows only see dimly,

⁴and the doors to the street are shut. Before the sound of the grinding mill grows low, and you wake up early when the birds are singing, but you can hardly hear them.

⁵Before you develop a fear of heights and worry about going out on the streets; when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper crawls along, and desire fails, for everyone has to go to their eternal home as the mourners go up and down the street.

⁶Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken; before the water jug is smashed at the spring, or the pulley is broken at the well.

⁷Then the dust returns to the earth from which it came, and the breath of life returns to God who gave it.

⁸“Everything passes! It's all so hard to understand!” says the Teacher.