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Bible study · Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

Ecclesiastes 12: The end of the matter

Read Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 before you meet.

In a few lines

The book's close gives two commands, "Fear God and keep his commandments" (12:13), and in Hebrew both verbs are already in the pictures just before it: "the keepers of the house" (12:3) and "they shall be afraid of heights" (12:5). And the matter of "the end of the matter" is davar, the book's first word: "The words of the Preacher" (1:1).

The verse to carry

“This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13

To talk about

  1. 1. "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come" (12:1). What helps you remember God in an ordinary week, whatever your age?

  2. 2. "The words of the wise are like goads" (12:11). When has a wise word that was hard to hear moved you in a direction you needed to go?

  3. 3. "This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments" (12:13). Now that you have read the whole of Ecclesiastes, what do you take from the way it ends?

Prayer requests