Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 ▼

1 REMEMBER now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw nigh when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them;

2 Before life ebbs, beauty fades, fortune fails, and poverty returns after prosperity;

3 In the day when the legs tremble and the arms weaken, and the teeth chew no more because they are few, and the eyes are dimmed,

4 And 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;

5 He shall be afraid of that which is high, and shall tremble in his ways, and sleeplessness shall come upon him; the almond tree shall blossom, and the locust shall be multiplied, and fragrance shall scatter, and trouble shall cease; because man goes to the house of his reward and the mourners walk about the streets.

6 Remember him before the silver cord is cut off and the golden bowl is broken and the pitcher is broken at the fountain or the wheel is broken at the cistern,

7 Then the dust shall return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.