Ecclesiastes 11

1 Send forth your bread upon the face of the water: for you shall find it after many days.

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

2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for you know not what evil there shall be upon the earth.

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

3 If the clouds be filled with rain, they pour [it] out upon the earth: and if a tree fall southward, or if it fall northward, in the place where the tree shall fall, there it shall be.

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 that observes the wind sows not; and he that looks at the clouds will not reap.

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

5 Amongst whom none knows what is the way of the wind: as the bones [are hid] in the womb of a pregnant [woman], so you shall not know the works of God, [even] all things whatever he shall do.

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 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening let not your hand be slack: for you know not what sort shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether both shall be good alike.

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 Moreover the light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun.

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

8 For even if a man should live many years, [and] rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

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, in your youth; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart blameless, but not in the sight of your eyes: yet know that for all these things God will bring you into judgement.

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 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh: for youth and folly are vanity.

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