Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the {Or, grinding women}grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows shall be darkened,
and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
yea, they shall be afraid {Or, of danger from on high}of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper {Or, shall drag itself along}shall be a burden, and {Or, the caperberry}desire shall {Or, burst}fail; because man goeth to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets:
before the silver cord is {Or, snapped asunder}loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
and the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.
And further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he {Or, gave ear}pondered, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
The Preacher sought to find out {Hebrew: words of delight.}acceptable words, and that which was written uprightly, even words of truth.
The words of the wise are as goads; and as nails well fastened are the words of the {Or, collectors of sentences}masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
{Or, And as for more than these, my son, be warned}And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
{Or, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole master}This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for {Or, this is the duty of all men}this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every work into judgment, {Or, concerning}with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Querverweise zu Prediger 12,5 Pred 12,5
And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left: if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.
Whatsoever thy hand {Or, attained to do by thy strength, that do}findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.
And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him three-score and ten days.
And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I {Or, bought}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.
And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
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,
and 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.
And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
and if ye take this one also from me, and harm befall him, ye will bring down my gray hairs with {Hebrew: evil.}sorrow to Sheol.
If I {Or, hope, Sheol is my house; I have spread…I have said…And where now is my hope?}look for Sheol as my house;If I have spread my couch in the darkness;
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come:
and 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.
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because {Or, our dwellings have cast us out}they have cast down our dwellings.
Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
it will come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants will bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,And {Or, the house of meeting for &c.}to the house appointed for all living.
And they come to the house of the ruler of the synagogue; and he beholdeth a tumult, and many weeping and wailing greatly.
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah.
For {Or, he seeth that wise men &c.}he shall see it. Wise men die;The fool and the brutish alike perish,And leave their wealth to others.
Their 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.
But man being in honor abideth not:He is like the beasts that perish.
This {Or, is the way of them that are foolish}their way is {Or, their confidence: and after &c.}their folly:Yet after them men approve their sayings. [Selah
They are appointed as a flock for Sheol;Death shall be their shepherd;And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume,That there be no habitation for it.
And when he was entered in, he saith unto them, Why make ye a tumult, and weep? the child is not dead, but sleepeth.
With us are both the grayheaded and the very aged men,Much elder than thy father.
And inasmuch as it is {Greek: laid up for. Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 4:8}appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;
Yea, even {Hebrew: unto old age and gray hairs.}when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not,Until I have declared {Hebrew: thine arm.}thy strength unto the next generation,Thy might to every one that is to come.
The hoary head is a crown of {Or, beauty}glory; {Or, If it be found}It shall be found in the way of righteousness.
The glory of young men is their strength;And the beauty of old men is the hoary head.
and even to old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear; yea, I will carry, and will deliver.
Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of {Hebrew: shaked.}an almond-tree.