Ecclesiastes 12:3–12

⁹For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

¹⁰The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

²³He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.

²And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;

¹⁵¶ Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.

¹⁶And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.

¹AND it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

⁴Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

¹⁰Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

³⁵I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?

²²And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

¹³If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

¹⁷¶ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:

¹⁸And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.

²⁰Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

²³For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

³¹The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

³And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.

⁴And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

⁵My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

⁶And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

⁷¶ And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

⁸And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

⁹And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

¹⁰And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

¹⁰With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

³²¶ Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord.

¹⁰For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.

¹²Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.

¹⁴Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

¹⁸Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

¹⁰Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

³⁸And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

²⁹And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

³¹It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.

²⁷And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

⁴And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

¹¹¶ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.

³⁸And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.

³⁹And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.

²And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:

³And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.

²And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

²⁰All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

²¹Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

⁴His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

¹⁴If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;

¹⁵All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.

¹THE burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

¹⁶For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.

⁷And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

²²And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

¹¹His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹⁶Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,

¹⁶So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the Lord liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.

³Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

²⁷And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

⁹Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁹How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

²⁰They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

²³To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

²¹And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

²Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

¹²For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

⁸There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

¹⁴I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

¹⁷Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

⁴¶ Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

⁹Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

³²And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.

¹THE proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

¹THESE are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

⁸Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.

¹THE proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

¹²¶ Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

¹³I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

¹⁴And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;)

¹⁵And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

¹⁶Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

¹⁷And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁸And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.

¹⁹Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name.

²⁰And the Lord hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

²¹And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

⁵For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

¹⁵This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

²¹The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.

²²Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.

²³The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.

²⁴Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

¹THE proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

²To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

³To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

⁴To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

⁵A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

⁶To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

²⁶The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.

¹⁷Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

¹⁸For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.

¹⁹That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.

²⁰Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,

²¹That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?

¹¹A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

¹²As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.

⁶Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.

⁷For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.

⁹They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.

¹THE words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

¹¹Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

¹FORASMUCH as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

²Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;

³It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

⁴That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

²³A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

¹²¶ I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

³⁷¶ Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

¹²For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

²⁹Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

²³And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

⁴(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

¹¹He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

⁶To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

¹⁷Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

²³And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

⁷¶ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

¹THE Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

¹GIVE ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

⁴And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

⁸And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

²⁴But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

²⁰Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

¹⁸For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

²⁵And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

¹⁹We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

²⁰Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

²¹For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

³⁹¶ Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

³²And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.

²⁹Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

³⁰And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

³¹And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

³¹But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.