Ecclesiastes 12:2

Youth Death and loss Grief

¹ 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,

³ 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,

⁴ 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,

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is darkened, and the clouds return after the rain,
KJV: While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
WEB: Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
ASV: before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
DARBY: before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
BLB: While that the sun is not darkened, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, and the clouds return after the rain,

ÅB: før solen og lyset og månen og stjernene formørkes, og skyene kommer igjen etter regnet -
OTB: før solen og lyset, månen og stjernene blir mørke, og skyene vender tilbake etter regnet;
B1930: før solen og lyset og månen og stjernene formørkes, og skyene kommer igjen efter regnet -

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Isaiah 5:30
In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
Read in context
1 Samuel 4:15
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.
Read in context
1 Samuel 4:18
As soon as the ark of God was mentioned, Eli fell backward from his chair by the city gate, and being old and heavy, he broke his neck and died. And Eli had judged Israel forty years.
Read in context
1 Samuel 3:2
And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.
Read in context
Ezekiel 32:7–8
When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.
Read in context
Psalms 77:16
The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken.
Read in context
Psalms 42:7
Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
Read in context
Psalms 71:20
Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.
Read in context