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Chapter 12

Remember Your Creator . . .

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth
    before the bad times come
and the years draw near when you will say,
    “I take no pleasure in them”;
before the sun and the light of day
    give way to darkness,
before the moon and the stars grow dim
    and the clouds return after the rain;
[a]when the guardians of the house tremble
    and the strong men are bent over,
and the women who grind the meal
    cease working because they are few in number,
and those who look through the windows
    realize that their eyesight is failing;

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 12:3 The usual interpretation is this: the guardians: the hands; the strong men: the legs; the grind[ers] . . . and those who look through the windows: the teeth and eyes; the doors: the lips; grinding: the mouth. Next there is reference to the failure of hearing; the blossoming of the almond tree: white hair; the grasshopper: sexual vigor.