LITV(i)
1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days do not come, or the years draw near when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 while not yet the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, are darkened, or the clouds return after rain;
3 in the day when the housekeepers shall tremble, and the strong men are bowed, and the grinders cease because they are few; and those looking out the windows are darkened;
4 and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the mill is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music are silenced;
5 also they shall be afraid of a high place, and terrors in the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the locust makes himself a burden; and desire breaks, because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the street;
6 While the silver cord is not yet loosed, or the golden bowl is crushed, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel 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.
8 Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, all is vanity.
9 And more than that, the Preacher was wise; he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he listened, and looked, and set in order many proverbs.
10 The Preacher sought to find out pleasing words; and words of truth written on uprightness.
11 The words of the wise are as goads; yea, as nails driven by the masters of collections, they are given from one Shepherd.
12 And more than these, my son, be warned: The making of many books has no end, and much study is the weariness of the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this applies to every man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with all that is hidden, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.