Ecclesiastes 11

1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.

Send forth your bread on the face of the waters, For in the multitude of the days you find it.

2 Divide your portion among seven, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may befall the land.

Give a portion to seven, and even to eight, For you do not know what evil is on the earth.

3 If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain upon the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.

If the thick clouds are full of rain, On the earth they empty [themselves]; And if a tree falls in the south or to the north, The place where the tree falls, there it is.

4 He who watches the wind will fail to sow, and he who observes the clouds will fail to reap.

Whoever is observing the wind does not sow, And whoever is looking on the thick clouds does not reap.

5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

As you do not know what [is] the way of the spirit, How—bones in the womb of the full one, So you do not know the work of God who makes the whole.

6 Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.

In the morning sow your seed, And at evening do not withdraw your hand, For you do not know which is right, this or that, Or whether both of them alike [are] good.

7 Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

Sweet also [is] the light, And good for the eyes to see the sun.

8 So if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is futile.

But if man lives many years, In all of them let him rejoice, And remember the days of darkness, For they are many! All that is coming [is] vanity.

9 Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.

Rejoice, O young man, in your childhood, And let your heart gladden you in days of your youth, And walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes, And know that for all these, God brings you into judgment.

10 So banish sorrow from your heart, and cast off pain from your body, for youth and vigor are fleeting.

And turn aside anger from your heart, And cause evil to pass from your flesh, For the childhood and the age [are] vanity!