Ecclesiastes 11
11
It Pays To Work Hard
1Be generous, and someday
you will be rewarded.#11.1 Be generous … rewarded: Or “Don't be afraid to invest. Someday it will pay off.”
2Share what you have
with seven or eight others,
because you never know
when disaster may strike.
3Rain clouds always bring rain;
trees always stay
wherever they fall.
4If you worry about the weather
and don't plant seeds,
you won't harvest a crop.
5No one can explain how a baby breathes before it is born.#11.5 how … born: Or “what makes the wind blow or how a baby grows inside its mother.” So how can anyone explain what God does? After all, God created everything.
6Plant your seeds early in the morning and keep working in the field until dark. Who knows? Your work might pay off, and your seeds might produce.
Youth and Old Age
7Nothing on earth is more beautiful than the morning sun. 8Even if you have a very long life, you should try to enjoy each day, because darkness will come and will last a long time. Nothing makes sense.#11.8 Nothing makes sense: Or “There's nothing to look forward to!”
9Be cheerful and enjoy life while you are young! Do what you want and find pleasure in what you see. But don't forget that God will judge you for everything you do.
10Rid yourself of all worry and pain, because the wonderful moments of youth quickly disappear.
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Ecclesiastes 11: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 11
11
1Send out your bread on the face of the waters, for after many days you shall find it.
2Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil might be on the earth.
3If the clouds are filled with rain, they empty themselves upon the earth. And if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it is.
4He who watches the wind does not sow, and he who looks at the clouds does not reap.
5As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of Elohim who makes all.
6Sow your seed in the morning, and until evening do not let your hand rest; since you do not know which prosper, this or that, or whether both alike are good.
7Sweet also is the light, and good for the eyes to see the sun;
8But if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they are many. All that is coming is futility.
9Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart gladden you in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these Elohim brings you into right-ruling.
10Therefore remove vexation from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for youth and dawn of life are futility.
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