Ecclesiastes 11
1 Mitte panem tuum super transeuntes aquas, quia post tempora multa invenies illum.
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.
2 Da partem septem necnon et octo, quia ignoras quid futurum sit mali super terram.
Divide your portion among seven, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may befall the land.
3 Si repletæ fuerint nubes, imbrem super terram effundent. Si ceciderit lignum ad austrum aut ad aquilonem, in quocumque loco ceciderit, ibi erit.
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.
4 Qui observat ventum non seminat; et qui considerat nubes numquam metet.
He who watches the wind will fail to sow, and he who observes the clouds will fail to reap.
5 Quomodo ignoras quæ sit via spiritus, et qua ratione compingantur ossa in ventre prægnantis, sic nescis opera Dei, qui fabricator est omnium.
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.
6 Mane semina semen tuum, et vespere ne cesset manus tua: quia nescis quid magis oriatur, hoc aut illud; et si utrumque simul, melius erit.
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.
7 Dulce lumen, et delectabile est oculis videre solem.
Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
8 Si annis multis vixerit homo, et in his omnibus lætatus fuerit, meminisse debet tenebrosi temporis, et dierum multorum, qui cum venerint, vanitatis arguentur præterita.
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.
9 Lætare ergo, juvenis, in adolescentia tua, et in bono sit cor tuum in diebus juventutis tuæ: et ambula in viis cordis tui, et in intuitu oculorum tuorum, et scito quod pro omnibus his adducet te Deus in judicium.
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.
10 Aufer iram a corde tuo, et amove malitiam a carne tua: adolescentia enim et voluptas vana sunt.
So banish sorrow from your heart, and cast off pain from your body, for youth and vigor are fleeting.
