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11 Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later. Divide your gifts among many,[a] for in the days ahead you yourself may need much help.

When the clouds are heavy, the rains come down; when a tree falls, whether south or north, the die is cast, for there it lies. If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.[b] God’s ways are as mysterious as the pathway of the wind and as the manner in which a human spirit is infused into the little body of a baby while it is yet in its mother’s womb. Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow—perhaps it all will.

It is a wonderful thing to be alive! If a person lives to be very old, let him rejoice in every day of life, but let him also remember that eternity is far longer and that everything down here is futile in comparison.

Young man, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it! Do all you want to; take in everything, but realize that you must account to God for everything you do. 10 So banish grief and pain, but remember that youth, with a whole life before it, can make serious mistakes.

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 11:2 Divide your gifts among many, literally, “Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight.”
  2. Ecclesiastes 11:4 If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done, literally, “He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.”

Invest in Many Ventures

11 Ship(A) your grain across the sea;
    after many days you may receive a return.(B)
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
    you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

If clouds are full of water,
    they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the path of the wind,(C)
    or how the body is formed[a] in a mother’s womb,(D)
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.

Sow your seed in the morning,
    and at evening let your hands not be idle,(E)
for you do not know which will succeed,
    whether this or that,
    or whether both will do equally well.

Remember Your Creator While Young

Light is sweet,
    and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.(F)
However many years anyone may live,
    let them enjoy them all.
But let them remember(G) the days of darkness,
    for there will be many.
    Everything to come is meaningless.

You who are young, be happy while you are young,
    and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
    and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
    God will bring you into judgment.(H)
10 So then, banish anxiety(I) from your heart
    and cast off the troubles of your body,
    for youth and vigor are meaningless.(J)

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 11:5 Or know how life (or the spirit) / enters the body being formed