1Throw your bread on the surface of the water, because you will find it again after many days. 2Divide what you have into seven parts, or even into eight, because you don't know what disaster may happen on earth. 3If the clouds are full of rain, they will let it pour down on the earth. If a tree falls north or south, the tree will remain where it fell. 4Whoever watches the wind will never plant. Whoever looks at the clouds will never harvest. 5Just as you don't know how the breath of life enters the limbs of a child within its mother's womb, you also don't understand how God, who made everything, works.

6Plant your seed in the morning, and don't let your hands rest until evening. You don't know whether this field or that field will be profitable or whether both of them will [turn out] equally well.

7Light is sweet, and it is good for one's eyes to see the sun. 8Even though people may live for many years, they should enjoy every one of them. But they should also remember there will be many dark days. Everything that is coming is pointless.

9You young people should enjoy yourselves while you're young. You should let your hearts make you happy when you're young. Follow wherever your heart leads you and whatever your eyes see. But realize that God will make you give an account for all these things when he judges everyone. 10Get rid of what troubles you or wears down your body, because childhood and youth are pointless.