Ecclesiastes 12

General context

The hearer is told to remember his Creator in the days of his youth, before the evil days and the years in which he will say he has no pleasure, while sun, light, moon and stars are not darkened and the clouds do not return after the rain. The text describes that day: the keepers of the house tremble, the strong men bow, the grinders cease because they are few, those at the windows are darkened, the doors are shut in the streets, the sound of grinding is low, he rises at the voice of the bird, the daughters of music are brought low, the almond tree flourishes, the grasshopper is a burden and desire fails, because man goes to his long home and the mourners go about the streets. All this comes before the silver cord is loosed, the golden bowl broken, the pitcher broken at the fountain and the wheel at the cistern. Then the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit returns to God who gave it. The preacher's saying is repeated: vanity of vanities, all is vanity. A closing passage describes the preacher in the third person: because he was wise he taught the people, set in order many proverbs and sought acceptable words, and what was written was upright, words of truth. The words of the wise are goads and nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, given from one shepherd. Addressed as my son, the hearer is warned that making many books has no end and much study wearies the flesh. The conclusion of the whole matter is to fear God and keep his commandments, the whole duty of man, because God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, good or evil.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 12:1, Ecclesiastes 12:2, Ecclesiastes 12:3, Ecclesiastes 12:4, Ecclesiastes 12:5, Ecclesiastes 12:6, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Ecclesiastes 12:8, Ecclesiastes 12:9, Ecclesiastes 12:10, Ecclesiastes 12:11, Ecclesiastes 12:12, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Ecclesiastes 12:14

Ecclesiastes 12 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The chapter ends the book without naming its speaker beyond the title used from the start; here the word is printed in lower case, the preacher, and from verse 8 he is described in the third person as wise, as one who taught the people, set proverbs in order and sought acceptable words. The text does not say who speaks these closing verses about the preacher, nor who addresses the hearer as my son and says let us hear; that voice is unnamed. The statement that what was written was upright refers to writing without naming a writer. The one shepherd from whom the words of the wise are given is not identified. God is called thy Creator in verse 1, the only place in the book that uses the word, and God who gave it in verse 7. The long description in verses 2 to 6 is tied by the text to man going to his long home and to mourners in the streets, but the chapter does not gloss its images of keepers, grinders, windows, almond tree, cord, bowl, pitcher and wheel, so any reading of what each stands for is not stated by the text. The statement that the spirit returns to God who gave it is made as a declaration, where chapter 3 had asked who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward. The final verse states judgment on every work and every secret thing without saying when.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 12:8, Ecclesiastes 12:9, Ecclesiastes 12:12, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Ecclesiastes 12:10, Ecclesiastes 12:11, Ecclesiastes 12:1, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Ecclesiastes 12:5, Ecclesiastes 3:21, Ecclesiastes 12:14

Literary context

Verses 1 to 7 form one extended sentence that delays its end through a chain of clauses: remember, while, while, in the day when, or ever, then. The images move through a house and its workers, keepers, strong men, grinders and watchers at windows, to a street with shut doors, low sounds and mourners, and end with four objects breaking, cord, bowl, pitcher and wheel. Light darkened in verse 2 reverses the sweet light and pleasant sun of the previous chapter. Verse 7 returns to the dust of chapter 3, where all turn to dust again, and turns that chapter's open question about the spirit going upward into a statement. Verse 8 repeats the book's opening line almost word for word, closing the frame that began at chapter 1, and the voice then steps back to describe the preacher from outside, in the third person. The closing verses shift address twice, to my son and then to let us hear, and end on the two words that have recurred through the book, fear and judgment, the second having been promised to the young man at the end of chapter 11.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 12:1, Ecclesiastes 12:3, Ecclesiastes 12:6, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Ecclesiastes 12:2, Ecclesiastes 11:7, Ecclesiastes 3:20, Ecclesiastes 3:21, Ecclesiastes 12:8, Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 12:9, Ecclesiastes 12:12, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Ecclesiastes 12:14, Ecclesiastes 11:9

Key moments

1. Remember thy Creator (Ecclesiastes 12:1). The hearer is told to remember his Creator in youth, before the evil days come.
2. Man goes to his long home (Ecclesiastes 12:5). The description of failing strength and desire is tied to death and mourners in the streets.
3. The silver cord loosed (Ecclesiastes 12:6). Cord, bowl, pitcher and wheel break in the last images before death.
4. Dust and spirit return (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The dust returns to the earth and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
5. All is vanity, again (Ecclesiastes 12:8). The preacher's opening saying is repeated to close the book's argument.
6. The preacher taught the people (Ecclesiastes 12:9). A third-person passage says the preacher was wise and set many proverbs in order.
7. Fear God and keep his commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The conclusion of the whole matter is stated as the whole duty of man.

For reflection

The book ends by saying God shall bring every work into judgment, after chapters that said a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. What changes when the last command, fear God and keep his commandments, is read as the conclusion of the whole matter rather than as one more observation among the others?