| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Spread your bread on the water— after a while you will find it. | 1Send your grain overseas, for after many days you will get a return. |
| 2Apportion what you have into seven, or even eight parts, because you don't know what disaster might befall the land. | 2Divide your merchandise among seven or even eight investments, for you do not know what calamity may happen on earth. |
| 3If the clouds are full of rain, they will pour out on the earth; if a tree falls toward the south or the north, wherever it falls, there it will lay. | 3If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth, and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls. |
| 4Whoever keeps staring at the wind won't sow; whoever daydreams won't reap. | 4He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who observes the clouds will not reap. |
| 5Just as you do not understand the way of the spirit in the womb of a pregnant mother, so also you do not know what God is doing in everything he makes. | 5Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones form in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. |
| 6Sow your seed in the morning, and don't stop working until evening, since you don't know which of your endeavors will do well, whether this one or that, or even if both will do equally well. | 6Sow your seed in the morning, and do not stop working until the evening; for you do not know which activity will succeed--whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally. |
| 7How sweet is the daylight, and how pleasant it is for someone's eyes to behold the sunshine! | 7Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun. |
| 8Even if a person lives many years, let him enjoy them all, recalling that there will be many days of darkness to come—all of which are pointless. | 8So, 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 is about to come is obscure. |
| 9So enjoy yourself in your youth, young man, and be encouraged during your younger days. Live as you like, consistent with your world view, but keep in mind that God will bring you to account for everything. | 9Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. |
| 10Banish sorrow from your heart, and evil from your body, since both childhood and the prime of life are pointless. | 10Banish emotional stress from your mind. and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting. |
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