Ecclesiastes 11

1 Cast your bread over running waters. For, after a long time, you shall find it again.

Send forth thy bread upon the face of the water: for thou shalt find it after many days.

2 Give a portion to seven, and indeed even to eight. For you do not know what evil may be upon the earth in the future.

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

3 If the clouds have been filled, they will pour forth rain upon the earth. If a tree falls to the south, or to the north, or to whatever direction it may fall, there it shall remain.

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.

4 Whoever heeds the wind will not sow. And whoever considers the clouds will never reap.

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

5 In the same manner that you do not know the way of the spirit, nor the way that bones are joined together in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the works of God, who is the Maker of all.

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

6 In the morning, sow your seed, and in the evening, do not let your hand cease. For you do not know which of these may rise up, the one or the other. But if both rise up together, so much the better.

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

7 Light is pleasant, and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun.

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

8 If a man lives for many years, and if he has rejoiced in all of these, he must remember the many days of the dark times, which, when they will have arrived, will accuse the past of vanity.

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.

9 So then, rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart remain in what is good during the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart, and with the perception of your eyes. And know that, concerning all these things, God will bring you to judgment.

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart blameless, but not in the sight of thine eyes: yet know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

10 Remove anger from your heart, and set aside evil from your flesh. For youth and pleasure are empty.

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