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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 12:1 - American Standard
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 12:1 |
American Standard |
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; |
| |
King James |
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
(Ecc 12:1-14)
As Ecc 11:9-10 showed what youths are to shun, so this verse shows what they are to follow.
Creator--"Remember" that thou art not thine own, but God's property; for He has created thee (Psa 100:3). Therefore serve Him with thy "all" (Mar 12:30), and with thy best days, not with the dregs of them (Pro 8:17; Pro 22:6; Jer 3:4; Lam 3:27). The Hebrew is "Creators," plural, implying the plurality of persons, as in Gen 1:26; so Hebrew, "Makers" (Isa 54:5).
while . . . not--that is, before that (Pro 8:26) the evil days come; namely, calamity and old age, when one can no longer serve God, as in youth (Ecc 11:2, Ecc 11:8).
no pleasure--of a sensual kind (Sa2 19:35; Psa 90:10). Pleasure in God continues to the godly old (Isa 46:4). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Remember now - Rather, And remember. The connection between this verse and the preceding one is unfortunately interrupted by our division of chapters.
Creator - Gratitude to God as Creator is here inculcated, as just previously Ecc 11:9 fear of God as Judge. Godliness, acquired as a habit in youth, is recommended as the proper compensation for that natural cessation of youthful happiness which makes the days of old age more or less evil; more evil in proportion since there is less of godliness in the heart, and less evil where there is more godliness.
While the evil days come not - Rather, before the evil days come. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
With Ecc 12:1 (where, inappropriately, a new chapter begins, instead of beginning with Ecc 11:9) the call takes a new course, resting its argument on the transitoriness of youth: "And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, ere the days of evil come, and the years draw nigh, of which thou shalt say: I have no pleasure in them." The plur. majest. בּוראיך = עשׂים as a designation of the Creator, Job 35:10; Isa 54:5; Psa 149:2; in so recent a book it cannot surprise us, since it is also not altogether foreign to the post-bibl. language. The expression is warranted, and the Midrash ingeniously interprets the combination of its letters.
(Note: It finds these things expressed in it, partly directly and partly indirectly: remember בארך, thy fountain (origin); בורך, thy grave; and בוראיך, thy Creator. Thus, Jer. Sota ii. 3, and Midrash under Ecc 12:1.)
Regarding the words 'ad asher lo, commonly used in the Mishna (e.g., Horajoth iii. 3; Nedarim x. 4), or 'ad shello (Targ. 'ad delo), antequam. The days of evil (viz., at least, first, of bodily evil, cf. κακία, Mat 6:34) are those of feeble, helpless old age, perceptibly marking the failure of bodily and mental strength; parallel to these are the years of which (asher, as at Ecc 1:10) one has to say: I have no pleasure in them (bahěm for bahěn, as at Ecc 2:6, mehěm for mehěn). These evil days, adverse years, are now described symptomatically, and that in an allegorical manner, for the "ere" of Ecc 12:1 is brought to a grand unfolding. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Now - For now thou art most able to do it; and it will be most acceptable to God, and most comfortable to thyself, as the best evidence of thy sincerity, and the best provision for old age and death. Evil days - The time of old age, which is evil; burdensome in itself, and far more grievous when it is loaded with the sad remembrance of youthful follies, and with the dreadful prospect of approaching death and judgment. No pleasure - My life Is now bitter and burdensome to me: which is frequently the condition of old age. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Remember thy Creator - בוראיך Boreeycha, thy Creators. The word is most certainly in the plural number in all our common Hebrew Bibles; but it is in the singular number, בוראך Borecha, in one hundred and seventy-six of Dr. Kennicott's MSS., and ninety-six of De Rossi's; in many ancient editions; and in all the ancient versions. There is no dependence on the plural form in most of the modern editions; though there are some editions of great worth which exhibit the word in this form, and among them the Complutensian, Antwerp, Paris, and London polyglots.
The evidence, therefore, that this text is supposed to give to the doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity, is but precarious, and on it little stress can be laid; and no man who loves truth would wish to support it by dubious witnesses. Injudicious men, by laying stress on texts dubious in themselves, and which may be interpreted a different way, greatly injure the true faith. Though such in their hearts may be friends to the orthodox faith, they are in fact its worst friends, and their assistance is such as helps their adversaries.
But what does the text say? It addresses the youth of both sexes throughout the creation; and says in effect: -
I. You are not your own, you have no right to yourselves. God made you; he is your Creator: he made you that you might be happy; but you can be happy only in him. And as he created you, so he preserves you; he feeds, clothes, upholds you. He has made you capable of knowing, loving, and serving him in this world, and of enjoying him in his own glory for ever. And when you had undone yourselves by sin, he sent his Son to redeem you by his blood; and he sends his Spirit to enlighten, convince, and draw you away from childishness, from vain and trifling, as well as from sinful, pursuits.
II. Remember him; consider that he is your Creator, your loving and affectionate Father. In youth memory is strong and tenacious; but, through the perversion of the heart by sin, young people can remember any thing better than God. If you get a kindness from a friend, you can remember that, and feel gratitude for it; and the person is therefore endeared to you. Have any ever given you such benefits as your Creator? Your body and soul came from him; he gave you your eyes, ears, tongue, hands, feet, etc. What blessings are these! how excellent! how useful! how necessary and will you forget Him?
III. Remember him in thy Youth, in order that you may have a long and blessed life, that you may be saved from the corruption and misery into which young people in general run; and the evils they entail upon themselves by giving way to the sinful propensities of their own hearts. As in youth all the powers are more active and vigorous, so they are capable of superior enjoyments. Faith, hope, and love, will be in their best tenor, their greatest vigor, and in their least encumbered state. And it will be easier for you to believe, hope, pray, love, obey, and bear your cross, than it can be in old age and decrepitude.
IV. Remember him Now, in this part of your youth - you have no certainty of life; now is yours, to-morrow may not be. You are young; but you may never be old. Now he waits to be gracious; tomorrow may be too late. God now calls; his Spirit now strives; his ministers now exhort. You have now health; sin has not now so much dominion over you as it will have, increasing by every future moment, if you do not give up your hearts to your Maker.
V. There is another consideration which should weigh with you: should you live to old age. it is a very disadvantageous time to begin to serve the Lord in. Infirmities press down both body and mind, and the oppressed nature has enough to do to bear its own infirmities; and as there is little time, so there is generally less inclination, to call upon the Lord. Evil habits are strengthened by long continuance; and every desire and appetite in the soul is a strong hold for Satan. There is little time for repentance, little for faith, none for obedience. The evil days are come, and the years in which you will feelingly be obliged to say, Alas! "we have no pleasure in them;" and, what is worse, the heart is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. |
4 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.
10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away.
35 I am this day fourscore years old: can I discern between good and bad? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?
8 Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.
2 Give a portion to seven, yea, even unto eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
5 For thy Maker is thy husband; Jehovah of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?
6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.
17 I love them that love me; And those that seek me diligently shall find me.
30 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
3 Know ye that Jehovah, he is God: It is he that hath made us, and we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
1 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;
2 before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
3 in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows shall be darkened,
4 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;
5 yea, they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets:
6 before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
7 and the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.
9 And further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he pondered, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10 The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written uprightly, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads; and as nails well fastened are the words of the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12 And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
1 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;
6 I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared;
10 Is there a thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been long ago, in the ages which were before us.
34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
1 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;
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
5 For thy Maker is thy husband; Jehovah of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.
10 But none saith, Where is God my Maker, Who giveth songs in the night,
9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
1 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;