Cast Your Bread on the Waters

11 ^(A)Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you ^(B)will find it ^[a]after many days. ^2 (C)Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what ^(D)calamity may occur on the earth. ³ If the clouds are full, they empty the rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it ^[b]lies. ⁴ He who ^[c]watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. ⁵ Just as you do not ^(E)know ^[d]the path of the wind and ^(F)how bones are formed in the womb of the ^[e]pregnant woman, so you do not ^(G)know the work of God who works all things.

⁶ Sow your seed ^(H)in the morning and do not put your hands down in the evening, for you do not know whether ^[f]morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.

⁷ The light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to ^(I)see the sun. ⁸ Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him ^(J)be glad in them all, and let him remember the ^(K)days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be vanity.

⁹ Be glad, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be merry during the days of young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the ^(L)sights of your eyes. Yet know that ^(M)God will bring you to judgment for all these things. ¹⁰ So, remove vexation from your heart and put away ^(N)evil from your flesh because childhood and the prime of life are vanity.