Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version when 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; New Living Translation Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint. English Standard Version and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— Berean Standard Bible when the doors to the street are shut and the sound of the mill fades away, when one rises at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song grow faint, King James Bible 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; New King James Version When the doors are shut in the streets, And the sound of grinding is low; When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low. New American Standard Bible and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. NASB 1995 and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. NASB 1977 and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. Legacy Standard Bible and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. Amplified Bible when the doors (lips) are shut in the streets and the sound of the grinding [of the teeth] is low, and one rises at the sound of a bird and the crowing of a rooster, and all the daughters of music (voice, ears) sing softly. Christian Standard Bible the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song grow faint. Holman Christian Standard Bible the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song grow faint. American Standard Version and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; Contemporary English Version The noisy grinding of grain and the voices of singers will be shut out by your deaf ears, but even the song of a bird will keep you awake. English Revised Version and the door shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; GOD'S WORD® Translation Remember your Creator when the doors to the street are closed, the sound of the mill is muffled, you are startled at the sound of a bird, [and] those who sing songs become quiet. Good News Translation Your ears will be deaf to the noise of the street. You will barely be able to hear the mill as it grinds or music as it plays, but even the song of a bird will wake you from sleep. International Standard Version The doors to the street will be shut when the sound of grinding decreases, when one wakes up at the song of a bird, and all of the singing women are silenced. Majority Standard Bible when the doors to the street are shut and the sound of the mill fades away, when one rises at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song grow faint, NET Bible and the doors along the street are shut; when the sound of the grinding mill grows low, and one is awakened by the sound of a bird, and all their songs grow faint, New Heart English Bible and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; Webster's Bible Translation And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding shall be low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low. World English Bible and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionAnd doors have been shut in the street. When the noise of the grinding is low, "" And [one] rises at the voice of the bird, "" And all daughters of song are bowed down. Young's Literal Translation And doors have been shut in the street. When the noise of the grinding is low, And one riseth at the voice of the bird, And all daughters of song are bowed down. Smith's Literal Translation And the doors were shut in the street, in the lowness of the voice of the grinding, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of the song shall bow down; Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleAnd they shall shut the doors in the street, when the grinder's voice shall be low, and they shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall grow deaf. Catholic Public Domain Version And they will close the doors to the street, when the voice of he who grinds the grain will be humbled, and they will be disturbed at the sound of a flying thing, and all the daughters of song shall become deaf. New American Bible When the doors to the street are shut, and the sound of the mill is low; When one rises at the call of a bird, and all the daughters of song are quiet; New Revised Standard Version when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleAnd the ears shall be so dulled that the sound of women grinding at the mill is low, and a man shall rise up at the song of birds; and the sound of women singing shall be low; Peshitta Holy Bible Translated And the gates of the streets will be shut by feebleness of the sound of the grinders, and he will rise to the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of song will be brought low OT Translations JPS Tanakh 1917And the doors shall be shut in the street, When the sound of the grinding is low; And one shall start up at the voice of a bird, And all the daughters of music shall be brought low; Brenton Septuagint Translation and they shall shut the doors in the market-place, because of the weakness of the voice of her that grinds at the mill; and he shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, and all the daughters of song shall be brought low; Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context Remember Your Creator…3on the day the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, when those grinding cease because they are few and those watching through windows see dimly, 4when the doors to the street are shut and the sound of the mill fades away, when one rises at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song grow faint, 5when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels—for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners walk the streets.… Cross References Isaiah 29:10 For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers. Isaiah 32:3-4 Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. / The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently. Jeremiah 6:10 To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. Amos 8:11-12 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. / People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the LORD, but they will not find it. Zechariah 7:11-12 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. / They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts. Psalm 38:13-14 But like a deaf man, I do not hear; and like a mute man, I do not open my mouth. / I am like a man who cannot hear, whose mouth offers no reply. Psalm 88:8-9 You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape. / My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You. Job 29:10 The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths. Job 30:10 They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. Proverbs 21:13 Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer. Matthew 13:13-15 This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ / In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. / For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’ Matthew 24:12 Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. Mark 4:24 He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you. Luke 8:18 Pay attention, therefore, to how you listen. Whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.” John 12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.” Treasury of Scripture 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 music shall be brought low; all 2 Samuel 19:35 I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king? Jump to Previous Arise Bird Birds Bowed Closed Crushing Daughters Doors Fades Grinding Grow Low Mill Music Musick Noise Rise Rises Riseth Shut Sing Soft Softly Song Songs Sound Start Street Streets VoiceJump to Next Arise Bird Birds Bowed Closed Crushing Daughters Doors Fades Grinding Grow Low Mill Music Musick Noise Rise Rises Riseth Shut Sing Soft Softly Song Songs Sound Start Street Streets VoiceEcclesiastes 12 1. the Creator is to be remembered in due time8. The preacher's care to edify 13. the fear of God is the chief antidote for vanity when the doors to the street are shut This phrase evokes imagery of isolation and seclusion. In the Hebrew context, "doors" (דְּלָתַיִם, delatayim) symbolize access and opportunity. The shutting of doors suggests a time when opportunities diminish, often interpreted as the onset of old age when one's ability to engage with the world decreases. Historically, city gates or doors were closed at night for protection, symbolizing a retreat from the vibrancy of life. Spiritually, this can be seen as a call to reflect on the closing chapters of life and the importance of spiritual readiness. and the sound of the mill fades away when men rise up at the sound of birds but all their songs grow faint He shall rise up.--No satisfactory explanation of this clause has been given. The following are three of the best interpretations that have been proposed: (1) The old man, whose state has been figuratively described before, is said to sleep so badly that the chirping of a bird will awake him. (2) His voice becomes feeble like the chirping of a bird (Isaiah 29:4). (3) The bird of ill omen raises its voice (Psalm 102:6-7; Zephaniah 2:14). Each of these interpretations is open to serious objections, which I do not state at length, having myself nothing better to propose. . . . Verse 4. - The doors shall be shut in the streets. Hitherto the symbolism has been comparatively easy to interpret. With this verse inextricable difficulties seem to arise. Of course, in one view it is natural that in the bitter weather, or on the appearance of a tempest, the doors towards the street should be closed, and none should leave the house. But what are meant by the doors in the metaphorical house, the body of the aged man? Jewish expositors understood them to be the pores, or excretive apertures of the body, which lose their activity in old age - which seems an unseemly allusion. Plumptre will have them to be the organs which carry on the processes of sensation and nutrition from the beginning to the end; but it seems a forced metaphor to call these "double-doors." More natural is it to see in the word, with its dual form, the mouth closed by the two lips. So a psalmist speaks of the mouth, the door of the lips (Psalm 141:3; comp. Micah 7:5). As it is only the external door of a house that could be employed in this metaphor, the addition, "in [or, 'towards'] the streets," is accounted for. When the sound of the grinding is low. The sound of the grinding or the mill is weak and low when the teeth have ceased to masticate, and, instead of the crunching and grinding of food, nothing is heard but a munching and sucking. The falling in of the mouth over the toothless gums is represented as the closing of doors. To take the words in their literal sense is to make the author repeat himself, reiterating what he is supposed to have said before in speaking of the grinding-women - all labor is lessened or stopped. The sound of grinding betokened cheerfulness and prosperity; its cessation would be an ominous sign (see Jeremiah 25:10; Revelation 18:22). Another interpretation considers this clause to express the imperfect vocal utterance of the old man; but it is hardly likely that the author would call speech "the voice of the grinding," or of the mill, as a metaphor for "mouth." And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird. This is a very difficult sentence, and has been very variously explained. It is usually taken to mean that the old man sleeps lightly and awakes (for "rises up" may mean no more than that) at the chirrup of a bird. The objection to this interpretation is that it destroys the figurative character of the description, introducing suddenly the personal subject. Of course, it has another signification in the picture of the terror-stricken household; and many interpreters who thus explain the allegory translate the clause differently. Thus Ginsburg renders, "The swallow rises to shriek," referring to the habits of that bird in stormy weather. But there are grammatical objections to this translation, as there are against another suggestion, "The bird (of ill omen) raises its voice." We need not do more than refer to the mystical elucidation which detects here a reference to the resurrection, the voice of the bird being the archangel's trumpet which calls the dead from their graves. Retaining the allegory, we must translate the clause, "He [or, 'it,' i.e. the voice] rises to the bird's voice;" the old man's voice becomes a "childish treble," like the piping of a little bird. The relaxation of the muscles of the larynx and other vocal organs occasions a great difference in the pitch or power of tone (compare what Hezekiah says, Isaiah 38:14, "Like a crane or a swallow so did I chatter," though there it is the low murmur of sorrow and complaint that is meant). And all the daughters of music shall be brought low. "The daughters of song" are the organs of speech, which ere now humbled and fail, so that the man cannot sing a note. Some think that the ears are meant, as St. Jerome writes, Et obsurdescent omnes filiae carminis, which may have some such notion. Others arrive at a similar signification from manipulation of the verb, thus eliciting the sense - The sounds of singing-women or song-birds are dulled and lowered, are only heard as a faint, unmeaning murmur. This exposition rather contradicts what had preceded, viz. that the old man is awoke by the chirrup of a sparrow; for his ears must be very sensitive to be thus easily affected; unless, indeed, the "voice of the bird" is merely a note of time, equivalent to early cock-crowing. We must not omit Wright's explanation, though it does not commend itself to our mind. He makes a new stanza begin here: "When one rises at the voice of the bird," and sees here a description of the approach of spring, as if the poet said, "When the young and lusty are enjoying the return of genial weather, and the concert of birds with which no musician can compete, the aged, sick in their chambers, are beset with fears and are sinking fast." We fail altogether to read this meaning in our text, wherein we recognize only a symbolical representation of the old man's vocal powers. It is obvious to cite Juvenal's minute and painful description of old age in 'Sat.,' 10:200, etc., and Shakespeare's lines in 'As You Like It' (act 2. sc. 7), where the reference to the voice is very striking-"His big, manly voice, Hebrew when the doorsדְלָתַ֙יִם֙ (ḏə·lā·ṯa·yim) Noun - fd Strong's 1817: Something swinging, the valve of a, door to the street בַּשּׁ֔וּק (baš·šūq) Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular Strong's 7784: A street are shut וְסֻגְּר֤וּ (wə·sug·gə·rū) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural Strong's 5462: To shut up, to surrender and the sound ק֣וֹל (qō·wl) Noun - masculine singular construct Strong's 6963: A voice, sound of the mill הַֽטַּחֲנָ֑ה (haṭ·ṭa·ḥă·nāh) Article | Noun - feminine singular Strong's 2913: A hand mill, chewing fades away, בִּשְׁפַ֖ל (biš·p̄al) Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct Strong's 8217: Depressed when one rises וְיָקוּם֙ (wə·yā·qūm) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 6965: To arise, stand up, stand at the sound לְק֣וֹל (lə·qō·wl) Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct Strong's 6963: A voice, sound of a bird, הַצִּפּ֔וֹר (haṣ·ṣip·pō·wr) Article | Noun - common singular Strong's 6833: A little bird and all כָּל־ (kāl-) Noun - masculine singular construct Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every the daughters בְּנ֥וֹת (bə·nō·wṯ) Noun - feminine plural construct Strong's 1323: A daughter of song הַשִּֽׁיר׃ (haš·šîr) Article | Noun - masculine singular Strong's 7892: A song, singing grow faint, וְיִשַּׁ֖חוּ (wə·yiš·ša·ḥū) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Nifal - Conjunctive imperfect - third person masculine plural Strong's 7817: To bow, be bowed down, crouch Links Ecclesiastes 12:4 NIVEcclesiastes 12:4 NLT Ecclesiastes 12:4 ESV Ecclesiastes 12:4 NASB Ecclesiastes 12:4 KJV Ecclesiastes 12:4 BibleApps.com Ecclesiastes 12:4 Biblia Paralela Ecclesiastes 12:4 Chinese Bible Ecclesiastes 12:4 French Bible Ecclesiastes 12:4 Catholic Bible OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 12:4 And the doors shall be shut (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.) |
    |