when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels—for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners walk the streets.
Parallel translations
- WEB yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets:
- KJV Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
- NKJV Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, And desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets.
- NASB Furthermore, people are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while the mourners move around in the street.
- NLT Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.
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
Old age brings fear, frailty, and the loss of desire, until death carries a person to the grave amid mourning. It confronts us plainly with the end of earthly life.
Overview
The aged grow fearful of falls and the perils of the road; the blossoming almond tree (white like gray hair) and the burdensome grasshopper picture diminished strength, while "desire shall fail" marks the fading of appetite and ambition. "Man goes to his everlasting home" names death directly, with the mourners already gathering in the streets. Ecclesiastes refuses to sentimentalize death, and this realism prepares the heart to value the gospel, for Christ has tasted death and turned the believer's "everlasting home" into the presence of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Job 17:13If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
- Jer 9:17–20This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
- Job 30:23Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
- Prov 16:31Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.
- Ps 71:18Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.
- Gen 50:3–10taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
- Ps 49:10–14For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.
- Lev 19:32You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.
- Job 15:10Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.
- Gen 42:38But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”
- Gen 44:29Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’
- Mark 5:38–39When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly.
- Jer 1:11And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
- Prov 20:29The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old.
- Isa 46:4Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.
- Eccl 9:10Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
- Gen 44:31sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.
- Heb 9:27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
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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 12:5 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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