Cast Your Bread on the Waters

1Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it [†]after many days. 2Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what calamity may occur on the earth. 3If 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 [†]lies. 4He who [†]watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. 5Just as you do not know [†]the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the [†]pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who works all things.

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

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

9Be 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 sights of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. 10So, remove vexation from your heart and put away evil from your flesh because childhood and the prime of life are vanity.