| International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Spread your bread on the water— after a while you will find it. | 1Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you. |
| 2Apportion what you have into seven, or even eight parts, because you don't know what disaster might befall the land. | 2But divide your investments among many places, for you do not know what risks might lie ahead. |
| 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. | 3When clouds are heavy, the rains come down. Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls. |
| 4Whoever keeps staring at the wind won't sow; whoever daydreams won't reap. | 4Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest. |
| 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 cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. |
| 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. | 6Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both. Advice for Young and Old |
| 7How sweet is the daylight, and how pleasant it is for someone's eyes to behold the sunshine! | 7Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning. |
| 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. | 8When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless. |
| 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. | 9Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do. |
| 10Banish sorrow from your heart, and evil from your body, since both childhood and the prime of life are pointless. | 10So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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