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.
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:
- 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.
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 house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
- Jer 9:17–20Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come.
- Job 30:23For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
- Prov 16:31Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.
- Ps 71:18Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.
- Gen 50:3–10Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.
- Ps 49:10–14For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.
- Lev 19:32“‘You shall rise up before the gray head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.
- Job 15:10With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much elder than your father.
- Gen 42:38He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
- Gen 44:29If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.’
- Mark 5:38–39He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
- Jer 1:11Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
- Prov 20:29The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.
- Isa 46:4Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
- Eccl 9:10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.
- Gen 44:31it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol.
- Heb 9:27Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, 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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