Cast Your Bread on the Waters
11
ACast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you Awill find it 1after many days. ADivide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what Bmisfortune may occur on the earth. If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it 1lies. He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. Just as you do not Aknow 1the path of the wind and Bhow bones are formed in the womb of the 2pregnant woman, so you do not Cknow the activity of God who makes all things.
Sow your seed Ain the morning and do not 1be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether 2morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.
The light is pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to Asee the sun. Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him Arejoice in them all, and let him remember the Bdays of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.
Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the 1impulses of your heart and the 2Adesires of your eyes. Yet know that BGod will bring you to judgment for all these things. 10 So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away 1Apain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.
A 11:1 Deut 15:10; Prov 19:17; Matt 10:42; Gal 6:9; Heb 6:10 A 11:1 Deut 15:10; Prov 19:17; Matt 10:42; Gal 6:9; Heb 6:10 1 11:1 Lit in, within A 11:2 Ps 112:9; Matt 5:42; Luke 6:30; 1 Tim 6:18, 19 B 11:2 Eccl 11:8; 12:1 1 11:3 Lit is A 11:5 John 3:8 1 11:5 Or with many mss how the spirit enters the bones in the womb B 11:5 Ps 139:13-16 2 11:5 Lit full C 11:5 Eccl 1:13; 3:10, 11; 8:17 A 11:6 Eccl 9:10 1 11:6 Lit let down your hand 2 11:6 Lit this or that A 11:7 Eccl 6:5; 7:11 A 11:8 Eccl 9:7 B 11:8 Eccl 12:1 1 11:9 Lit ways 2 11:9 Lit sights A 11:9 Num 15:39; Job 31:7; Eccl 2:10 B 11:9 Eccl 3:17; 12:14; Rom 14:10 1 11:10 Lit evil A 11:10 2 Cor 7:1; 2 Tim 2:22