In this verse and the next we have a description of a house, with special emphasis on those living or working there. But the activities around the house are decreasing or have stopped, and the doors are closed. We are not told why this is the case. As noted earlier some commentators take this as a picture of the weakness of old age in general and the lessening of activity during this time of life. Others interpret the individual descriptions as references to parts of the body, which show the effects of old age. Still others see the figures as references to death or funerals.

In the day when appears to be equivalent in meaning to the “before” phrases used elsewhere in this section. This can be shown if need be by adding “before the day when…” or “before the time when….” Day will carry the same general sense as in verse 1 above; that is to say, “a period of time.” Although day, like “year,” has a special literary function in the Hebrew text of this passage, we may translate the entire phrase by the adverb “when.” Following this time phrase four verb phrases refer to certain actions which have decreased or stopped altogether.

The keepers of the house tremble: from the Hebrew verb for “keep” we get the term keepers. It is the same verb used in 5.1 to describe the action of guarding. Many cultures will have a term for people who guard a house against robbers, though this term may also refer to servants or caretakers. If an appropriate term does not exist, we can simply say “those who guard the house,” which is similar to what New Revised Standard Version has. Tremble, like the following verbs, uses the Hebrew imperfect verb form. It can signify what will happen when the future moment arrives, or it can express what always happens when a person reaches those “days.”

When Good News Translation says “your arms [that have protected you],” it shows that it understands keepers and house to refer to the human body. This is, of course, one possible meaning, but we recommend against following this in our translation. This interpretation can be included in a footnote (see below for an example). The reason for advising against Good News Translation is that the figurative interpretation of this passage cannot be consistently applied throughout; therefore there must be some question about its validity. We suggest a translation like “When those who guard the house [will] tremble.”

And the strong men are bent: “men of strength” may be a literal reference to strong men, or alternatively a reference to a person’s legs, as Good News Translation suggests. Are bent is from the verb “be twisted, bent over.” It is easy to see how the view that it describes an old person bent over with age came about. However, the verb here and in the previous clause both have other possible interpretations, so we should translate fairly literally. Good News Translation‘s version, “legs, now strong, will grow weak” may not be sufficiently accurate.

The comments above about what to put in the translated text and what should go into a footnote apply here also. The Good News Translation interpretation should be reserved for a footnote. We recommend a translation like “people who are strong [will] become bent over” or “those who were strong now grow bent.”

And the grinders cease: the verb “grind” is normally used to refer to the action of grinding grain or crushing olives. It can also have the meaning of oppression as in Isa 3.15. The verb appears here as a feminine participle, so a more literal rendering is “the women who grind…,” as in New Revised Standard Version. The verb cease speaks not only of declining power but of activity that has come to an end. Thus New Revised Standard Version reads “cease working.” The verbs in these four examples are the keywords, and so the theme can be traced to them. In this case they speak mostly of actions that have ended.

Good News Translation and many other versions understand this clause to refer to “teeth.” However, in the context of the description of a house, a rendering like “the women who grind” makes good sense. Again we recommend translating this form literally and putting the possible meaning of the figure in a footnote.

Because they are few explains why the grinding ceases. Those who grind have declined in numbers. If a figurative approach is taken, we can understand that, because there are so few teeth, chewing is no longer possible. If we take the text more literally, we may wonder why fewer grinders means the work must stop. Interestingly enough, Jerusalem Bible omits this phrase from its translation. However, we recommend that the text be rendered fairly literally.

Those that look through the windows: the “lookers” (Revised Standard Version those that look) is another feminine participle; it may describe women looking out through the window. The Hebrew noun for windows refers to gaps or openings (see, for example, Gen 7.11 “the windows of heaven”; Isa 60.8). If the intention was to refer to someone whose eyesight was failing (see Good News Translation), then windows refers to the eye, whereas “those who look through the window” seems to mean something else. Another possibility is that windows refers to “eyelids,” and “those looking through” are the “eyes” themselves. These problems indicate that it is better to give a literal rendering of this difficult text and to suggest possibilities of interpretation in footnotes. The demonstrative those in English does not show gender, so if a more literal translation is desired, we can express this as “the women who….”

Are dimmed is literally “grow dark,” the same root used in verse 2. We refer to Psa 69.23, where the idiom is also used, and discover that the phrase means “to lose one’s sight.” This leads to a translation “they who look through the windows grow blind,” or possibly “… can no longer see.” New American Bible suggests this also, and it is the translation we recommend. Note that this is a stronger statement than Good News Translation “[grow] dim.” However, we need to recognize that there is a wide variety of understanding about this idiom in the various translations, with some seeing a direct reference to dim eyesight or blindness due to old age, and others taking this mention of darkness to mean death. Jerusalem Bible “day is darkening all the windows” is quite far from the text and should not be used as a model.

For translation of the whole verse, we recommend a rather straightforward rendering, with a footnote:

• Before the time when the guards of the house tremble, and those who were strong now grow bent; before the time when the women grinding stop work because they are too few, and those looking through the windows can see no more.*

A possible footnote is:
*In this and the next verse, the imagery is often understood to be referring to the human body (“the house”). The “keepers” would be the hands, and “those who are strong” would be the legs; “the grinders” are the teeth, “those that look” are the eyes. Others consider these figures to represent death.

As noted earlier, the clauses in 12.1b-7 all add detail to the imperative “Remember your Creator” in 12.1a. In many languages the use of a series of “before” clauses will be unnatural. Indeed, time clauses may normally come before rather than after the main clause. In such cases the translator may have to modify the Hebrew original and repeat the main clause, either before or after the time clauses. If this kind of repetition is necessary, it will be good to place it at major breaks—at the beginning of verses 3 and 5, for example. Verse 3 can then say:

• Yes, remember your Creator, before the time the guards…, and the women stop grinding, before the time when those looking out of the windows can no longer see.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .