Ecclesiastes 12:6

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
ever	לֹֽא lo'-	H3808	not (the simple or abs. negation) · negative particle
silver	הַכֶּ֔סֶף ha.Ke.sef	H3701	silver (from its pale color) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
cord	חֶ֣בֶל Che.vel	H2256	a rope (as twisted) · noun, common both genders singular construct
loosed	יֵרָתֵק֙ yi.r.chak	H7576	to fasten · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
golden	הַזָּהָ֑ב ha.za.Hav	H2091	gold · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
bowl	גֻּלַּ֣ת gu.Lat	H1543	a fountain · noun, common feminine singular construct
broken	וְתָרֻ֖ץ ve.ta.Rutz	H7533	to crack in pieces · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person feminine singular
pitcher	כַּד֙ kad	H3537	properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
broken	וְתִשָּׁ֤בֶר ve.ti.Sha.ver	H7665	to burst (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, niphal, 3rd person feminine singular
fountain	הַמַּבּ֔וּעַ ha.ma.Bu.a'	H4002	a fountain · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
wheel	הַגַּלְגַּ֖ל ha.gal.Gal	H1534	a wheel · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
broken	וְנָרֹ֥ץ ve.na.Rotz	H7533	to crack in pieces · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
cistern	הַבּֽוֹר ha.Bor	H953	a pit hole (especially one used as a cistern or a priso… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Zechariah 4:2-3 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Here is, I. A call to young people to think of God, and mind their duty to him, when they are young: Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. This is, 1. The royal preacher's application of his sermon concerning the vanity of the world and every thing in it. "You that are young flatter yourselves with expectations of great things from it, but believe those that have tried it; it yields no solid satisfaction to a soul; therefore, that you may not be deceived by this vanity, nor too much disturbed by it, remember your Creator, and so guard yourselves against the mischiefs that arise from the vanity of the creature." 2. It is the royal physician's antidote against the particular disea…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 12:6

A double image to represent death, as in Ecc 12:1-5, old age: (1) A lamp of frail material, but gilded over, often in the East hung from roofs by a cord of silk and silver interwoven; as the lamp is dashed down and broken, when the cord breaks, so man at death; the golden bowl of the lamp answers to the skull, which, from the vital preciousness of its contents, may be called "golden"; "the silver cord" is the spinal marrow, which is white and precious as silver, and is attached to the brain. (2) A fountain, from which water is drawn by a pitcher let down by a rope wound round a wheel; as, when the pitcher and wheel are broken, water can no more be drawn, so life ceases when the vital energie…

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John Gill on Ecclesiastes 12:6

Or ever the silver cord be loosed,.... As the above are the symptoms and infirmities of old age; these in this verse are the immediate symptoms of death, or what attend it, or certainly issue in it. Some by "the silver cord" understand the string of the tongue; and to this purpose is the Targum, "before thy tongue is dumb from speaking;'' and it is observed (q) in favour of this sense, that the failing of the tongue is no fallacious sign of death, of which there is no mention at all in this account, unless here; and the tongue may not unfitly be called a "cord", both from the notation of the word because it binds, and because it scourges like a cord, Job 5:21; and is compared to silver, Pr…

The Church Fathers

One can understand the "cistern" accordingly: Inasmuch as it is possible to scoop water from a fountain with a pitcher, it is also possible to pull up water from a cistern with a water wheel. When there is no need any more to pull up water in this way, then the "[water] wheel will break at the cistern."
— Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 362:13

Neither stored silver nor tested gold will be of any further use. A mighty blow will strike everything, right down to a water pot standing next to a well, and to a carriage wheel which happens to have been left in the ditch, its time of revolving ceased, and to the life that, by water, has passed through the age of washing.
— Gregory of Neocaesarea, PARAPHRASE OF ECCLESIASTES 12:6

By "gold" in Scripture one has to understand the spirit; but if one understands by "silver" the spoken word, we have to understand here by "gold" the thought and by bowl the sphere of reason, since it is the bowl and storage place for gold. When Scripture describes the spoken word and the written word as silver, this means a weaving of the words that fit to each other and a linking of the meaning of the different words among each other.
— Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 360:14

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Allegory — Used only in Gal. 4:24, where the apostle refers to the history of Isaac the free-born, and Ishmael the slave-born, and makes use of it allegorically. Every parable is an allegory. Nathan (2 Sam.…
Cistern — The rendering of a Hebrew word bor, which means a receptacle for water conveyed to it; distinguished from beer, which denotes a place where water rises on the spot (Jer. 2:13; Prov. 5:15; Isa.…
Bowl · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Cistern · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Cord · .Of life — .Of life
Old Age · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Readings, Select · OLD AGE — OLD AGE
Silver · Cords — Cords
Wheel · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Ecclesiastes 12:6

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 12:6

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 12:6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Ecclesiastes 12:6

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 12:6

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 12:6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ecclesiastes 12:6

Rashi on Ecclesiastes 12:6