1 Send forth your bread on the face of the waters, || For in the multitude of the days you find it. 2 Give a portion to seven, and even to eight, || For you do not know what evil is on the earth. 3 If the thick clouds are full of rain, || On the earth they empty [themselves]; And if a tree falls in the south or to the north, || The place where the tree falls, there it is. 4 Whoever is observing the wind does not sow, || And whoever is looking on the thick clouds does not reap. 5 As you do not know what [is] the way of the spirit, || How—bones in the womb of the full one, || So you do not know the work of God who makes the whole. 6 In the morning sow your seed, || And at evening do not withdraw your hand, || For you do not know which is right, this or that, || Or whether both of them alike [are] good. 7 Sweet also [is] the light, || And good for the eyes to see the sun. 8 But if man lives many years, || In all of them let him rejoice, || And remember the days of darkness, || For they are many! All that is coming [is] vanity. 9 Rejoice, O young man, in your childhood, || And let your heart gladden you in days of your youth, || And walk in the ways of your heart, || And in the sight of your eyes, || And know that for all these, God brings you into judgment. 10 And turn aside anger from your heart, || And cause evil to pass from your flesh, || For the childhood and the age [are] vanity!
Ecclesiastes · Literal Standard Version
Ecclesiastes 11 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (10)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Ecclesiastes 11:6; Proverbs 19:17; Matthew 10:42; Hebrews 6:10; 2 Corinthians 9:6
- 2 1 Timothy 6:18–19; Job 5:19; Psalm 112:9; Luke 6:30–35; Proverbs 6:16
- 3 Psalm 65:9–13; Isaiah 55:10–11; 1 John 3:17; Luke 13:7; 1 Kings 18:45
- 4 Proverbs 20:4; Proverbs 3:27; Proverbs 22:13
- 5 John 3:8; Psalm 92:5; Ecclesiastes 8:17; Romans 11:33; Isaiah 40:28
- 6 2 Corinthians 9:10–11; Isaiah 55:10; Haggai 1:6–11; Hosea 10:12; 2 Corinthians 9:6
- 7 Ecclesiastes 7:11; Matthew 5:45; Proverbs 15:30; Psalm 84:11; Job 33:30
- 8 John 12:35; Deuteronomy 32:29; Ecclesiastes 7:14; Joel 2:2; Job 14:10
- 9 Ecclesiastes 12:14; 1 John 2:15–16; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ecclesiastes 3:17; Lamentations 3:27
- 10 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Timothy 2:22; Ecclesiastes 1:2; Ecclesiastes 1:14; Ecclesiastes 12:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
This coming of the Lord, and the end of the world, were known to the Preacher; who says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and the rest; Therefore remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh;...and remember thy Creator...or ever the evil days come,....or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Further, observe that the number seven denotes all the present time, as the most wise Solomon says, to give a portion to seven and also to eight.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)