¹And remember your creator in the days of your youth,

While the bad days have not yet come,

Nor have the years arrived of which you will say,

‘I have no pleasure in them’,

²While the sun has not gone dark,

Nor the light, nor the moon and the stars,

Nor have the thick clouds returned after the rain,

³On the day when the guardians of the house shake,

And the strong men have become bowed,

And the grinders have become unserviceable,

Because they are few,

And the lookers out of the windows have become dark,

⁴And the doors have closed in the street,

When the sound of the mill is low,

And one rises at the sound of a bird,

And all the daughters of song are faint,

⁵When also they are afraid of heights,

With trepidation on the road,

And the almond tree sheds its blossom,

And the grasshopper is a burden,

And the caperberry fails,

For man goes to his age-abiding house,

And mourners circulate in the street.

⁶For a while the silver cord is not constrained,

And the golden bowl is not crushed,

And the pitcher is not fractured at the fountain,

And the wheel is not broken at the cistern,

⁷Then dust returns onto the earth,

As it was,

And the spirit returns to God

Who gave it.”

⁸“Vanity of vanities,”

Says the convener,

“Everything is vanity.”

⁹And the more that the convener was wise, the more he taught the people knowledge, and he weighed it up, and he sought it out, and he composed many proverbs. ¹⁰The convener set out to find pleasing words, and honest writing – words of truth. ¹¹The words of the wise are like goads and like nails driven in. They are masters of gatherings, given by one shepherd. ¹²And, my son, be warned of anything more than these. There is no end of making many books, and much study is weariness to the flesh. ¹³We will hear the whole conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

For this is the whole duty of man.

¹⁴For God will bring every deed into judgment,

With every hidden thing,

Whether good or bad.