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:
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:
- BSB 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.
- 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 wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
- Jer 9:17–20Thus 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:
- Job 30:23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
- Prov 16:31The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
- Ps 71:18Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
- Gen 50:3–10And 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.
- Ps 49:10–14For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
- Lev 19:32Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.
- Job 15:10With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
- Gen 42:38And 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.
- Gen 44:29And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
- Mark 5:38–39And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
- Jer 1:11Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
- Prov 20:29The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the grey head.
- Isa 46:4And 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.
- Eccl 9:10Whatsoever 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.
- Gen 44:31It 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.
- Heb 9:27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the 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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