Enjoy being young, old age come fast
1Remember your CreatorWhen you’re young and life’s fun,
Before the bad days come and you say,
“I hate to get sick and it stinks to grow old;”
2And before the lights go out,
Sun and moon and stars,
Shrouded in black clouds and rain;
3When guardians of the family tremble,
Those strong men curl with age,
When the women stop grinding grain,
Because so few of their friends remain,
And because those who are left
See the world through a dark pane; [1]
4When they lock their front doors,
And the grinding mill grows fainter,
When they barely hear birds singing,
And the music begins to die;
5When they’re afraid they might fall
And don’t take walks anymore.
It’s like this,
Almond trees come back in blossoms.
Locusts just keep coming back. [2]
Caperberries pop up a new year of buds.
But for humans, it’s time to die,
And time for their loved ones to cry.
6The silver cord [3] snaps and everything shatters,
The golden bowl drops and the pitcher breaks.
At the well there’s no way to get water,
Even the pulley for the cord is broken.
7Our bodies of dust return to the earth.
Our breath [4] returns to God.
8None of this makes a bit of sense, says the Scholar. It’s all such a tragic waste.
A final word
9This wise man, the Scholar, kept studying and evaluating and teaching. He wrote a lot of proverbs along the way. 10He looked for helpful insights to pass along, and he taught the truth in simple words.11Wise sayings are like prods the herders use
To gently nudge animals along.
These are the words of one Shepherd
And they stick like they’re nailed to our bones.
12And one word of warning to my people. Avoid any teachings but those you find here. This is the reason why:
There are too many books,
Yet people keep writing,
And if you study too much
It can knock you out.
Respect God, obey his laws.
That’s all you need to do.
Everything we’ve done:
Good, bad, or secret.
