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EcclesiastesChapter 12

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Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years arrive when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them";
before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;
when the guards of the house tremble and the strong men are bent, when the grinding women stop because they are few, and those who look through the windows grow dim;
when the doors to the street are shut and the sound of the mill fades low, when one rises at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song grow faint;
when they are afraid of heights and terrors lie in the road; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails. For a man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners walk about in the street;
before the silver cord snaps and the golden bowl is shattered, before the jar is broken at the spring and the wheel is smashed at the well,
and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
Moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he kept on teaching the people knowledge; he weighed and searched out and arranged many proverbs.
The Preacher sought to find pleasing words, and what he wrote was upright—words of truth.
The words of the wise are like goads, and collected sayings like nails firmly driven; all are given by one Shepherd.
As for anything beyond these, my son, be warned: the making of many books has no end, and much study wearies the body.
The end of the matter, now that all has been heard: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
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