Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,” before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is darkened, and the clouds return after the rain, on the day the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, when those grinding cease because they are few and those watching through windows see dimly, when the doors to the street are shut and the sound of the mill fades away, when one rises at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song grow faint, 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. Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is crushed, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel is broken at the well, before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Read all of Ecclesiastes 12

5 songs meet this passage

  • “When my hands don't play the strings the same way”

    Thinking Out Loud · Ed Sheeran

    resonates with Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

    Both the song and this passage look honestly at the body's decline with age, yet the song answers it with love rather than despair.

  • Awake My Soul · Mumford & Sons

    resonates with Ecclesiastes 12:1

    The call to remember one's Creator before the body fails mirrors the song's climactic summons to awaken the soul.

  • Spirit In the Sky · Norman Greenbaum

    resonates with Ecclesiastes 12:7

    The hope that something of us returns to God after death echoes this verse, even if the song's vision is vague and folk-spiritual rather than biblical.

  • “Til God return me to my essence”

    I Ain't Mad At Cha (feat. Danny Boy) · 2Pac

    resonates with Ecclesiastes 12:7

    A rare direct acknowledgment of mortality and return to God, suggesting an awareness beyond the street narrative.

  • “We knew that his spirit was pluming for flight”

    My Grandfather's Clock · Johnny Cash

    resonates with Ecclesiastes 12:7

    The image of the spirit departing at the hour of death aligns with this verse's picture of the spirit returning to God who gave it.