Ecclesiastes
Chapter 11
The Teacher gives advice for living when you cannot know the future. Spread out what you give, keep working even though the weather and the results are out of your control, and enjoy the light while you have it. The chapter ends by telling a young person to enjoy being young, remember that dark days come, and know that God will bring every choice into judgment.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
1Send your bread out across the water. After many days you will find it again.
2Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
2Give a share to seven people, and even to eight. You do not know what trouble may come on the land.
3If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.
3When clouds are full, they pour out rain on the earth. When a tree falls, south or north, it stays where it falls.
4He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
4The person who keeps watching the wind never plants. The person who keeps studying the clouds never harvests.
5As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
5You do not know which way the wind goes. You do not know how a baby's bones grow inside its mother. In the same way, you cannot understand the work of God, who makes everything.
The KJV word "spirit" here means wind or breath, the same word used for moving air. The verse is about the wind you cannot trace, not about a person's soul.
6In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
6Plant your seed in the morning, and keep your hands busy in the evening too. You do not know which planting will do well, this one or that one, or whether both will do well.
7Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:
7Light is sweet. It is a good thing for the eyes to see the sun.
8But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.
8So if someone lives many years, let him enjoy them all. But let him remember that the dark days are coming, and there will be many of them. Everything still ahead passes away like a breath.
"Vanity" in the KJV does not mean being proud. It means something like a puff of breath: here one moment, gone the next.
9Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
9Be glad, young man, while you are young. Let your heart make you happy in your young days. Follow what your heart wants and what your eyes see. But know this: God will bring you to judgment for all of it.
10Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
10So push worry out of your heart, and keep pain away from your body. Being a child and being young do not last.
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