Ecclesiastes 12:5

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.

Majority Standard Bible

In The King James Version

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

In Context

4when 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,

6Remember 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,

Read all of Ecclesiastes 12

Cross References

Genesis 44:29Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’

Genesis 50:3taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

Job 15:10Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.

Job 30:23Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

Psalms 71:18Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.

Proverbs 20:29The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old.

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 12:2-8

The Infirmities of Old Age; The Effects of Death. 1 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; 2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor 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 be darkened, 4… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Ecclesiastes 12:5