The silver cord and the golden bowl

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

. . .before the silver cord is snapped,

or the golden bowl is broken, or the

pitcher is broken at the fountain, or

the wheel broken at the cistern,

and the dust returns to the earth as it was,

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Vanity of Vanities [h-e-b-e-l] says

Qoheleth / Koheleth / the Teacher;

all is vanity [h-e-b-e-l].

Commentary by Jerome of Stridon,

great Ancient Church translator of

the Scriptures into a common Latin

(Vulgate) Translation [lived 347 - 420

and who counseled believers from

his school-study in Bethlehem]

The silver cord

indicates a pure

life and the 

inspiration that 

is given us from heaven.

The return again of

the golden band

[LATIN: vitta] signifies

the soul that returns

to the place from 

which it descended.

Moreover there are

two remaining figures. . .

The shattered pitcher

at the spring and the 

broken wheel at the well,

through the use of 

metaphor, are allegories

for death: for if a pitcher

is worn through, it ceases

to draw water, and when

a wheel at the well is

broken, the water it 

would have drawn is left

to become putrid.

(translated by Prof. J. Robert Wright,

General Theol. Seminary, New York for the

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture 

series (IV Press, 2005) Volume IX, page 280.)