Ecclesiastes 11:1-8
Revised Standard Version
The Value of Diligence
11 Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what evil may happen on earth.
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 He who observes the wind will not sow;
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb[a] of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
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.
Youth and Old Age
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun.
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.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 11:5 Or As you do not know the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.