Ecclesiastes 11:1
New International Version
Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.

New Living Translation
Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you.

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

Berean Standard Bible
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.

King James Bible
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

New King James Version
Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days.

New American Standard Bible
Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.

NASB 1995
Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.

NASB 1977
Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.

Legacy Standard Bible
Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.

Amplified Bible
Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, [be diligently active, make thoughtful decisions], for you will find it after many days.

Christian Standard Bible
Send your bread on the surface of the water, for after many days you may find it.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Send your bread on the surface of the waters, for after many days you may find it.

American Standard Version
Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Send your bread upon the face of the waters, for after many days you will find it

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Send forth thy bread upon the face of the water: for thou shalt find it after many days.

Contemporary English Version
Be generous, and someday you will be rewarded.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Cast thy bread upon the running waters: for after a long time thou shalt find it again.

English Revised Version
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Throw your bread on the surface of the water, because you will find it again after many days.

Good News Translation
Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit.

International Standard Version
Spread your bread on the water— after a while you will find it.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Cast thy bread upon the waters, For thou shalt find it after many days.

Literal Standard Version
Send forth your bread on the face of the waters, | For in the multitude of the days you find it.

Majority Standard Bible
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.

New American Bible
Send forth your bread upon the face of the waters; after a long time you may find it again.

NET Bible
Send your grain overseas, for after many days you will get a return.

New Revised Standard Version
Send out your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back.

New Heart English Bible
Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days.

Webster's Bible Translation
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

World English Bible
Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days.

Young's Literal Translation
Send forth thy bread on the face of the waters, For in the multitude of the days thou dost find it.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Cast Your Bread upon the Waters
1Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. 2Divide your portion among seven, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may befall the land.…

Cross References
Matthew 10:42
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward."

Galatians 6:9
Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.

Deuteronomy 15:10
Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.

2 Samuel 17:29
honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd for David and his people to eat. For they said, "The people have become hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness."

Proverbs 19:17
Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.

Isaiah 32:20
Blessed are those who sow beside abundant waters, who let the ox and donkey range freely.


Treasury of Scripture

Cast your bread on the waters: for you shall find it after many days.

waters

Isaiah 32:20
Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

for

Ecclesiastes 11:6
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

Deuteronomy 15:10
Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

Psalm 41:1,2
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble…

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Ecclesiastes 11
1. directions for charity
7. death in life and the day of judgment
9. in the days of youth














XI.

(1) In this section the preacher is drawing to a close, and he brings out practical lessons very different from those which views of life like his have suggested to others. From the uncertainty of the results of human effort, he infers that we ought the more diligently to make trial of varied forms of exertion, in order that this or that may succeed. From the instability of human happiness, he draws the lesson that we ought to enjoy freely such happiness as life affords, yet with a temperate and chastened joy, and mindful of the account we shall have to render. The most popular explanation of Ecclesiastes 11:1 is, that the figure is taken from the casting of seed on irrigated lands, as, for instance, in Egypt before the waters of the Nile have subsided; and that the duty of beneficence is here inculcated. We are to sow our benefits broadcast, and be assured we shall have a harvest of reward. It is easier to raise objections to this interpretation than to improve on it. That the word translated "bread" is sometimes used in the sense of seed corn, see Isaiah 28:28; Isaiah 30:23; Psalm 104:14. It is objected that the words "cast on the waters" are, literally, "send over the face of the waters," the word "send" being nowhere else used in the sense of sowing. It has been remarked that in the East bread is used in the shape of light cakes, which would float on water; and the text has been understood as directing the casting of such cakes into a running stream--an irrational proceeding, not likely to occur to any but one to whom this text might have suggested it, and not offering ground for expectation that he who so cast his bread would find it again. It has been less absurdly proposed to understand the text as advising maritime enterprise; but the word "bread" does not harmonise with this explanation. There is nothing else in the book according with such advice; and the next verse, about "the evil that shall be upon the earth," shows that the writer was not thinking of the dangers of the sea. I believe, therefore, that Ecclesiastes 11:6, which speaks distinctly of the sowing of seed, is the best commentary on the present verse, which means, cast thy seed, even though thou canst not see where it will fall. Possibly the application of the figure is not to be restricted to acts of beneficence; but the next verse may lead us to think that these are primarily intended, and to these especially the encouragement at the end of the verse applies; for in other cases this book gives a less cheerful view of the possible success of human plans. . . .

Verses 1-6. - Section 16. Leaving alone unanswerable questions, man's duty and happiness are found in activity, especially in doing all the good in his power, for he knows not how soon he himself may stand in need of help. This is the first remedy for the perplexities of life. The wise man will not charge himself with results. Verse 1. - Cast thy bread upon the waters. The old interpretation of this passage, which found in it a reference to the practice in Egypt of sowing seed during the inundation of the Nile, is not admissible. The verb shalaeh is not used in the sense of sowing or scattering seed; it means "to cast or send forth." Two chief explanations have been given.

(1) As to sow on the water is equivalent to taking thankless toil (compare the Greek proverb, Σπείρειν ἐπὶ πόντῳ), the gnome may be an injunction to do good without hope of return, like the evangelical precept (Matthew 5:44-46; Luke 6:32-35).

(2) It is a commercial maxim, urging men to make ventures in trade, that they may receive a good return for their expenditure. In this case the casting seed upon the waters is a metaphorical expression for sending merchandise across the sea to distant lands. This view is supposed to be confirmed by the statement concerning the good woman in Proverbs 31:14, "She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her bread from far;" and the words of Psalm 107:23, "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do Business in great waters." But one sees no reason why Koheleth should suddenly turn to commerce and the trade of a maritime city. Such considerations have no reference to the context, nor to the general design of the book. Nothing leads to them, nothing comes of them. On the other hand, if we take the verse as urging active beneficence as the safest and best proceeding under men's present circumstances, We have a maxim in due accordance with the spirit of the rest of the work, and one which conduces to the conclusion reached at the end. So we adopt the first of the two explanations mentioned above. The bread in the East is made in the form of thin cakes, which would float for a time if thrown into a stream; and if it be objected that no one would be guilty of such an irrational action as flinging bread into the water, it may be answered that this is just the point aimed at. Do your kindnesses, exert yourself, in the most unlikely quarters, not thinking of gratitude or return, but only of duty. And yet surely a recompense will be made in some form or other. Thou shalt find it after many days. This is not to be the motive of our acts, but it will in the course of time be the result; and this thought may be an encouragement. In the Chaldee Version of parts of Ecclesiasticus there is extant a maxim identical with our verse, "Strew thy bread on the water and on the land, and thou shalt find it at the end of days" (Dukes, 'Rabb. Btumenl.,' p. 73). Parallels have been found in many quarters. Thus the Turk says, "Do good, throw it into the water; if the fish does not know it, God does." Herzfeld quotes Goethe -

"Was willst du untersuchen,
Wohin die Milde fliesst!
Ins Wasser wirf deine Kuchen;
Wer weiss wet sie geniesst?"
. . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Cast
שַׁלַּ֥ח (šal·laḥ)
Verb - Piel - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

your bread
לַחְמְךָ֖ (laḥ·mə·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 3899: Food, bread, grain

upon
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the waters,
הַמָּ֑יִם (ham·mā·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

for
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

after many
בְרֹ֥ב (ḇə·rōḇ)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7230: Multitude, abundance, greatness

days
הַיָּמִ֖ים (hay·yā·mîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 3117: A day

you will find it [again].
תִּמְצָאֶֽנּוּ׃ (tim·ṣā·’en·nū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast your bread on the waters (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 10:20
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