Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
Parallel translations
- WEB Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
- BSB Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”
- NKJV Remembernow your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”:
- NASB Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years approach when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
- NLT Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the hard days come when you find no pleasure in them. Devote your life to God early, before age and trouble close in.
Overview
This climactic exhortation calls the young to know and serve their Creator before the difficulties of old age arrive. It frames the whole of life under accountability to the God who made us. To remember the Creator is, in the fuller light of the gospel, to come to him through Christ, by whom all things were made and in whom alone life finds its meaning (Colossians 1:16; John 1:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 34
- Lam 3:27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
- Eccl 11:8But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.
- Ps 71:17–18O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
- Prov 22:6Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
- Luke 18:16But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
- Ps 34:11Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
- 2 Tim 3:15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
- Ps 90:10The 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.
- 1 Sam 16:12–13And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.
- Eccl 11:10Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
- Luke 2:40–52And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
- 2 Sam 19:35I 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?
- Prov 8:17I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
- 2 Chr 34:2–3And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
- Ps 22:9–10But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
- Gen 39:2And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
- 1 Sam 16:7But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
- Gen 39:8–9But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
- 1 Sam 2:26And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men.
- 1 Sam 3:19–21And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
- Dan 1:17As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
- Isa 26:8Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
- Eph 6:4And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
- Dan 1:8–9But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
- Gen 39:23The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.
- Luke 1:15For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
- 1 Kgs 3:6–12And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
- 1 Sam 2:18But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.
- 1 Kgs 18:12And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.
- 1 Sam 17:36–37Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
- Job 30:2Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
- 1 Sam 1:28Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.
- Hos 7:9Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.
- 1 Kgs 14:13And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 12:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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