Ecclesiastes 11
What Happens in This Chapter
This chapter tells the reader to give things away and to keep working, because no one knows what trouble is coming or which work will do well. It says people cannot know what God does, just as they cannot know the path of the wind or how a baby grows. It ends by telling a young person to be glad while young, to remember that dark days come and are many, and to know that God will bring him into judgment for all these things.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
1Send your bread out over 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 to eight as well. 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 of rain, they pour it out on the ground. If a tree falls south or north, it stays right where it falls.
4He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
4A man who keeps watching the wind will never plant his seed. A man who keeps watching the clouds will never bring in his crop.
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 know the work of God, who made everything.
The KJV word "spirit" here means the wind. The verse is saying no one knows where the wind comes from or where it goes.
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. In the evening, do not let your hands rest. You do not know which planting will do well, this one or that one. Maybe 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 feels good to 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.
8A man may live many years, and he can be glad in all of them. But let him remember the dark days, for there will be many of them. Everything still to come passes away.
"Vanity" in the KJV does not mean being proud. The Hebrew word means a puff of breath, something that is here and then gone.
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 be happy in these young days. Go where your heart leads and where your eyes look. But know this: God will bring you into judgment for all these things.
10Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
10So take sadness out of your heart. Keep pain away from your body. Being a child and being young do not last long.
"Evil from thy flesh" does not mean doing wrong. It means pain or hurt in the body.
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