New American Standard Bible 1995

Ecclesiastes 11

Cast Your Bread on the Waters

1 1Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you 2will find it 3after many days. 2 4Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what 5misfortune may occur on the earth. 3If 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 6lies. 4He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. 5Just as you do not 7know 8the path of the wind and 9how bones are formed in the womb of the 10pregnant woman, so you do not 11know the activity of God who makes all things.

6Sow your seed 12in the morning and do not 13be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether 14morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.

7The light is pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to 15see the sun. 8Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him 16rejoice in them all, and let him remember the 17days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.

9Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the 18impulses of your heart and the 19 20desires of your eyes. Yet know that 21God will bring you to judgment for all these things. 10So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away 22 23pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 11:1 Deut 15:10; Prov 19:17; Matt 10:42; Gal 6:9; Heb 6:10 ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 11:1 Deut 15:10; Prov 19:17; Matt 10:42; Gal 6:9; Heb 6:10 ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 11:1 Lit in, within ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 11:2 Ps 112:9; Matt 5:42; Luke 6:30; 1 Tim 6:18, 19 ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 11:2 Eccl 11:8; 12:1 ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 11:3 Lit is ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 11:5 John 3:8 ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 11:5 Or with many mss how the spirit enters the bones in the womb ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 11:5 Ps 139:13-16 ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 11:5 Lit full ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 11:5 Eccl 1:13; 3:10, 11; 8:17 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 11:6 Eccl 9:10 ↩
13. Ecclesiastes 11:6 Lit let down your hand ↩
14. Ecclesiastes 11:6 Lit this or that ↩
15. Ecclesiastes 11:7 Eccl 6:5; 7:11 ↩
16. Ecclesiastes 11:8 Eccl 9:7 ↩
17. Ecclesiastes 11:8 Eccl 12:1 ↩
18. Ecclesiastes 11:9 Lit ways ↩
19. Ecclesiastes 11:9 Lit sights ↩
20. Ecclesiastes 11:9 Num 15:39; Job 31:7; Eccl 2:10 ↩
21. Ecclesiastes 11:9 Eccl 3:17; 12:14; Rom 14:10 ↩
22. Ecclesiastes 11:10 Lit evil ↩
23. Ecclesiastes 11:10 2 Cor 7:1; 2 Tim 2:22 ↩

Cast Your Bread on the Waters

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 11