¹And remember your creators in the days of your youth, before the days of evil come, and the years reach you, of which you will say, I have no delight in them.

²Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain.

³In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the men of strength bend themselves, and the women who grind cease because they have become few, and those who look through the windows grow dim.

⁴And the doors on the street will be shut, when the sound of the mill becomes low, and one rises at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song are bowed down.

⁵Also they fear from on high, and terrors are in the way; and the almond is spurned, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper-berry is broken; for the man goes to the house of his forever, and those who lament go about in the street.

⁶Before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is crushed, and the jar is broken at the spring, and the wheel is crushed at the cistern.

⁷And the dust returns to the land as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it.

⁸Vapor of vapors, said the Preacher; all is vapor.

⁹And the rest: the Preacher was wise, and still taught the people knowledge; he weighed and searched out and put in order many proverbs.

¹⁰The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and what was written was uprightness, words of truth.

¹¹The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails planted are the lords of collections; they are given from one shepherd.

¹²And the rest beyond these, my son, be warned: the making of many books has no end, and much study is a wearying of the flesh.

¹³The end of the word, all has been heard: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.

¹⁴For God will bring every deed into justice, over every concealed thing, whether good or evil.