Ecclesiastes 11 - 12 - Legacy Standard Bible

Ecclesiastes 11 - 12

Cast Your Bread on the Waters

Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2 Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what calamity may occur on the earth. 3 If 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. 4 He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. 5 Just 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. 6 Sow 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. 7 The light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun. 8 Indeed, 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. 9 Be 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. 10 So, remove vexation from your heart and put away evil from your flesh because childhood and the prime of life are vanity.

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days happen and the years draw near in which you will say, “I have no delight in them”; 2 before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; 3 in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and valiant men bend down, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dark; 4 and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. 5 Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blooms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home, but the mourners go about in the street. 6 Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the spring is broken and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. 8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

9 In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and words of truth written uprightly. 11 The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 But in addition to this, my son, be warned: the making of many books is endless, and much devotion to books is wearying to the flesh. 13 The end of the matter, all that has been heard: fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the end of the matter for all mankind. 14 For God will bring every work to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.