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Ecclesiastes

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Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them;” See also: Lamentations 3:27 Ecclesiastes 11:8 Psalms 71:17-18Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain; See also: Isaiah 5:30 1 Samuel 4:18 1 Samuel 4:15in 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 who look out of the windows are darkened, See also: Psalms 90:9-10 Psalms 102:23 Genesis 48:10and 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; See also: Jeremiah 25:10 2 Samuel 19:35 Revelation 18:22yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets; See also: Job 17:13 Jeremiah 9:17-20 Job 30:23before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the spring, or the wheel broken at the cistern, See also: Zechariah 4:2-3and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. See also: Daniel 12:2 Ecclesiastes 3:20-21 Psalms 146:4“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!” See also: Ecclesiastes 1:2 Ecclesiastes 8:8 Ecclesiastes 6:12Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs. See also: Proverbs 25:1 1 Kings 4:32 Proverbs 1:1The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth. See also: Colossians 1:5 1 Timothy 1:15 Proverbs 16:21-24The words of the wise are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. See also: Jeremiah 23:29 Hebrews 4:12 Acts 2:37Furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. See also: Ecclesiastes 1:18 John 21:25 2 Peter 1:19-21This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. See also: Deuteronomy 10:12 Micah 6:8 Deuteronomy 6:2For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil. See also: 2 Corinthians 5:10 Romans 2:16 Matthew 12:36

See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)13 notes

Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.

These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity

Ecclesiastes 12:1

Ver. 1. Not. Prevent old age, to procure a stock of virtues. H. --- Solomon refutes the former sentiments of the wicked, which he had perhaps once entertained. C.

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Ecclesiastes 12:2

Ver. 2. Before the sun, &c. That is, before old age: the effects of which upon all the senses and faculties are described in the following verses, under a variety of figures. Ch. --- All are exhorted to live well, before death come to deprive them of their senses and all helps: and to continue in expectation of judgment, the signs of which are given, as Matt. xxiv. W. S. Jer. --- Rain. One misery succeeds another, the understanding is darkened, and the senses become dull. C. --- The Jews explain v. 2. 7. of the future distress of their nation under captivity. S. Jer. H.

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Ecclesiastes 12:3

Ver. 3. House. The sides, (S. Jer.) or rather the arms. C. --- Some understand prelates, or angels.

Thaumat. --- And the powers that are in heaven shall be moved. Mar. xiii. 25. H.

--- Men. The arms, (Chal.) or thighs, (Smith) or those who were formerly the most robust. --- Number. The rest have been lost, and what remain are of little service for chewing meat. C. --- Holes. Spectacles, (Geier) as if they had been already in use. C. --- Heb. "windows." H.

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Ecclesiastes 12:4

Ver. 4. Doors. The lips, (C.) feet, (Chal.) nostrils, (Vat.) or the trachea and pulmonary arteries.

--- Bird. The cock-crowing; or at the least sound their slumbers are broken. ---

Deaf. Heb. "be low." The ears cannot enjoy music, nor can the voice of the old people please. 2 K. xix. 25.

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Ecclesiastes 12:5

Ver. 5. Way. They shall walk bent down, and afraid of rough ground. ---

Flourish. Their head shall become white, like the almond-flower. Jer. i. 11. ---

Fat. Sept. "heavy." --- Destroyed. The hair shall fall off. C. --- Concupiscence shall be extinct. Vat. T. --- Eternity. The body being consigned to the grave, and the soul to the region of spirits, to have no farther concern with the transactions of the world. H. Job vii. 9. --- Street. This custom is often mentioned. Herod. ii.

85. Lu. vii. 32. --- The women dance, having one (C.) or two old people disfigured in the midst of them, to recount the actions of the deceased. Brun.

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Ecclesiastes 12:6

Ver. 6. Cord. The nerves. --- Fillet. Veins, or the spermatic vessels, (C.) and the soul. S. Jer. ---

Cistern. When the bladder, &c. become disordered. Num. xxiv. 7. C.

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Ecclesiastes 12:7

This 19th-century note uses polemical language; read it in the light of the note at the top of this panel.

Ver. 7. It. Man is composed of two distinct parts; the destination of which we ought never to forget. Thus the objection of infidels (c. iii. 19.) is refuted. Plato and some of the ancients had the same idea of the soul's spiritual nature; though some took it to be an aerial body. C.

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Ecclesiastes 12:8

Ver. 8. Ecclesiastes. "The preacher." W. --- He returns to his first proposition, and having pushed the objection of free-thinkers as far as possible, shews us what we ought to believe and practise. He establishes the distinction of soul and body, the advantage of instruction, (v. 11.) without meddling with things too high, (v. 12.) the obligation of fearing God, (v. 13.) and future retribution. v.

14. This is the sum of all sound morality. C.

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Ecclesiastes 12:10

Ver. 10. Profitable. Heb. "pleasing." Utile dulci. H. --- Perhaps he condemns his attempt to know all things. c. i. 13. C.

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Ecclesiastes 12:11

Ver. 11. In. The ground, (H.) to keep a tent in its proper place. He seemed before to have placed the wise on the same level with fools. C. vi. 8. 11. and vii.

1. C. --- Shepherd. God, or Solomon.

The Jews explain it of Moses, and his successors, who taught the people.

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Ecclesiastes 12:12

Ver. 12. Not. I have had experience of all. --- End. They can teach nothing farther. C. ---

Tenet insanabile multos

Scribendi cacoethes. Juv. Sat. vii.

--- Impious productions abound, while those which promote piety are too scarce. When the same truths are enforced, as those which the Scriptures contain, we cannot be accused of writing many books. Orig. Philoc. v. S. Jer.

--- Flesh. It ruins the health.

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Ecclesiastes 12:13

Ver. 13. All man. The whole business and duty of man. Ch. --- This is the sum of all profitable doctrine. W. --- He who does not fear God, deserves not the title of man. He is nothing but vanity. C.

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Ecclesiastes 12:14

Ver. 14. Error. Or hidden and secret things. Ch. --- Heb. "with every secret thing," (Prot. H.)

"every inadvertency." Sept. Sym. C.

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License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses

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