Ecclesiastes

See if you find this version of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, interesting. Many have wondered what some phrases in the Authorized King James Version meant.

(1) Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the days of old age are not yet nigh, the days which Solomon felt were evil since he no longer found any pleasure in them, since he had backslidden, following the idols of his many foreign wives.

(2) Consider God and eternity now while you have your eyesight, before you eyes fade until you think it is the sun getting dim and the moon and the stars are lost entirely to your sight, and the cataracts and other dimness of sight seem like storm clouds making all dark.

(3) And when your limbs which were once like those of brave soldiers now tremble, and even your back once so straight and strong to be continually bent and stooped, and the teeth now dependable as a mill, will fail, your eyesight which now can see so far as though from high windows will fail as though it were night, even in daytime.

(4) Remember, there cometh the time when those good teeth will fail and fall out, and you will try to hold your lips tight when eating in the presence of other people. Have you not noticed also, that the voice that was once so deep keeps rising with old age until it is like a bird, the hearing that was once hearing whispers cannot even hear music.

(5) And how the old folks must be so very careful of anything high even of climbing onto a chair, and guard against meeting even slight disturbance in the street, the hair will turn white as the flowering of an almond tree, when the stooping aging man can scarcely carry the weight of the grasshopper insect, and as he loses the flavors of food and his appetite, he must remind himself the he must soon leave his shaky house and fly away to his eternal dwelling place, wherever that is, depending...,but meanwhile he must try to get around depending not on his eyesight or strength, but on a walking stick tapping out to find any obstructions.

(6) He can get around a little until the precious nerve chord protected within the backbone becomes paralyzed with a stroke, and the even more precious vessel, the heart, more priceless than any gold, fails and stops, the liver, bladder and other organs also failing, the whole organism once as strong and dependable as the great stone over a well, shall be broken.

(7) Then dust shall return to the other dust of the earth, even from whence it came, and the spirit shall return to God from whence it came.

(8) Vanity, all is vanity is the usual pursuit of so many from their youth on. Listen to me, Solomon, the richest king in the world, do not waste your precious time seeking riches you must soon leave. Young man, listen to me, the wisest man in the world. I have studied every kind of wisdom, both for personal satisfaction and to help my subjects, yet say unto thee, most is vanity. The studying and writing of many books can lead to pride, and you must leave all of your wisdom also and finally humbly confess your ignorance.

Only what you do, my son, for God is worthwhile, humbly getting spiritual understanding and keeping God's commandments, will be found of lasting, even eternal worth, when old age draws nigh.

"Remember now thy Creator...."