ECCLESIASTES 12
1 But remember the One who created you in the days of your youth, during which the difficult days haven’t yet come (lest the years arrive when you will say, “For me there’s no pleasure in them,”) 2 before those in which the sun will be dark, as will the light, the moon and the stars, and the storm clouds persist after the downpour; 3 in the day when the ones who watch over the house will tremble, and the macho men will stoop, and the grinders stop working as they dwindle away, and the ones looking through the windows grow dim, 4 and both the doors in the street are shut; when the sound of the grinding mill becomes low, and one wakes at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of the song will be humbled. 5 They will also be scared of what is high, and of terrors along the way. And the almond is rejected, and the locust struggles along, and the caper berry withers, because the man is on the way to the home of his era, and the mourners wander in the street 6 until such time as the silver cord will not be severed, nor the golden bowl breaks, nor the pitcher be smashed against the well or the waterwheel at the cistern get damaged. 7 And dirt – it shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to the Godhead who gave her.
8 “The most vapourous of vapours!” the Gatherer has said. “It’s all vapour!”
9 Not only was the Gatherer wise, but he also taught the people knowledge; he has evaluated and studied, setting in order many proverbs. 10 The Gatherer hunted to find the most satisfying words that could be written – authentic words of truth. 11 Words from sages are like the staffs of shepherds, and like deeply embedded tent pegs that the masters of collections have been given from the Shepherding One alone. 12 My son, beware of anything in addition to them! There is no end to the writing of many books, and a lot of study wears the body out.
13 So, to end the matter, now all has been heard: Fear the Godhead and keep his commandments – this applies to all men – 14 because the Godhead will bring every deed into judgement; all hidden things whether good or evil.
(1-7)
Conjecture alert! : Reading this as a commentary of humanity approaching the Day of the Lord is provocative. Consider...
1) that it talks about the darkening of the heavenly bodies (compare Joel 3:15, Matt 24:29),
2) the phrase 'in the day' appears (but not 'in that day', specifically),
3) terrors along the way
4) v6 becomes a bright light at the end of the tunnel (the Millennium, or the eternal state?)
However v8 may be problematic if this is adopted.
(3)
grinders...windows. These seem to be metaphors for teeth and eyes respectively, highlighting the ravages of old age.
(5)
the almond is rejected. The falling out of teeth (v3) would lead to this.
the caper berry withers. This is a representative of virility (especially sexually). The caper berry was understood to be an aphrodisiac at the time.
the man is on the way to the home of his era. That is, he is heading towards the grave. I would typically translate the word as 'age' not 'era', but to say that 'the man is on the way to the home of his age' might be misleading, saying that he is destined for a 'Lifestyle Village' or something! The point is that it's the same destiny for everyone: we all die.
(6)
will not be. Most translations ignore the negation ('not') at the beginning of this list for reasons I can't quite fathom (Thus the conjunctions have all been translated as 'nor/or'). It makes better sense of the 'until', and gives a little hope as well.
nor the golden bowl breaks. This is the only active verb in the series (the bowl does the breaking - all the rest receive the damage in some way), but to be cautious I have translated it ambiguously, more in line with traditional translations and the rest of the passage. I'm not sure what it would mean if you translated it 'nor the golden bowl breaks things' (for example).
(6-7)
silver cord...golden bowl...pitcher...waterwheel. This list could be representative of parts of the person, according to some commentators (see 2 Cor 4:7). In that case the verse would refer to a time when a human becomes immortal (see comment on vv1-7). Then v7 would mean that these people are of a different order altogether - natural flesh will return to the earth but the immortal ones will live on with God. But this is all quite speculative.
(8)
The most vapourous of vapours! KJV has 'vanity of vanites', thus it seems the concept is one of the greatest element of a collection of similar elements (as in 'King of Kings, for example). In other words, this is the most pointless thing in the list of pointless things.
(13)
Godhead. Go here
Conjecture alert! : Reading this as a commentary of humanity approaching the Day of the Lord is provocative. Consider...
1) that it talks about the darkening of the heavenly bodies (compare Joel 3:15, Matt 24:29),
2) the phrase 'in the day' appears (but not 'in that day', specifically),
3) terrors along the way
4) v6 becomes a bright light at the end of the tunnel (the Millennium, or the eternal state?)
However v8 may be problematic if this is adopted.
(3)
grinders...windows. These seem to be metaphors for teeth and eyes respectively, highlighting the ravages of old age.
(5)
the almond is rejected. The falling out of teeth (v3) would lead to this.
the caper berry withers. This is a representative of virility (especially sexually). The caper berry was understood to be an aphrodisiac at the time.
the man is on the way to the home of his era. That is, he is heading towards the grave. I would typically translate the word as 'age' not 'era', but to say that 'the man is on the way to the home of his age' might be misleading, saying that he is destined for a 'Lifestyle Village' or something! The point is that it's the same destiny for everyone: we all die.
(6)
will not be. Most translations ignore the negation ('not') at the beginning of this list for reasons I can't quite fathom (Thus the conjunctions have all been translated as 'nor/or'). It makes better sense of the 'until', and gives a little hope as well.
nor the golden bowl breaks. This is the only active verb in the series (the bowl does the breaking - all the rest receive the damage in some way), but to be cautious I have translated it ambiguously, more in line with traditional translations and the rest of the passage. I'm not sure what it would mean if you translated it 'nor the golden bowl breaks things' (for example).
(6-7)
silver cord...golden bowl...pitcher...waterwheel. This list could be representative of parts of the person, according to some commentators (see 2 Cor 4:7). In that case the verse would refer to a time when a human becomes immortal (see comment on vv1-7). Then v7 would mean that these people are of a different order altogether - natural flesh will return to the earth but the immortal ones will live on with God. But this is all quite speculative.
(8)
The most vapourous of vapours! KJV has 'vanity of vanites', thus it seems the concept is one of the greatest element of a collection of similar elements (as in 'King of Kings, for example). In other words, this is the most pointless thing in the list of pointless things.
(13)
Godhead. Go here