Ecclesiastes, 11

1. Cast your bread on the water, eventually you will recover it.

1. Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

2. Offer a share to seven or to eight people, you can never tell what disaster may occur.

2. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what evil may happen on earth.

3. When clouds are full of rain, they will shed it on the earth. If a tree falls, whether south or north, where it falls, there it will lie.

3. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

4. Keep watching the wind and you will never sow, keep staring at the clouds and you will never reap.

4. He who observes the wind will not sow; and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

5. You do not understand how the wind blows, or how the embryo grows in a woman's womb: no more can you understand the work of God, the Creator of all.

5. As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

6. In the morning, sow your seed, until evening, do not cease from labour, for of any two things you do not know which will succeed, or which of the two is the better.

6. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

7. How sweet light is, how delightful it is to see the sun!

7. Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun.

8. However many years you live, enjoy them all, but remember, the days of darkness will be many: futility awaits you at the end.

8. For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

9. Young man, enjoy yourself while you are young, make the most of the days of your youth, follow the prompting and desire of heart and eye, but remember, God will call you to account for everything.

9. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

10. Rid your heart of indignation, keep your body clear of suffering, though youth and the age of black hair are both futile.

10. Remove vexation from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.