Ecclesiastes 11

Living Bible

11 Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later. ² Divide your gifts among many,^[a] for in the days ahead you yourself may need much help.

³ 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. ⁴ If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.^{[b] 5} 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. ⁶ Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow—perhaps it all will.

⁷ It is a wonderful thing to be alive! ⁸ 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.

⁹ 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.