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Ecclesiastes 11:2-10

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2 1Give a portion to 2seven, or even to eight, 3for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
4 He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the way 4the spirit comes to 5the bones in the womb[a] of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening 6withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to 7see the sun.
8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember 8that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is 9vanity.
9 10Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. 11Walk in the ways of your heart and 12the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things 13God will bring you into judgment.
10 Remove vexation from your heart, and 14put away pain[b] from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
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Ecclesiastes 11:2-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 11

This chapter begins with an exhortation to liberality to the poor, enforced by several reasons and arguments, and the objections to it removed; and the whole illustrated by various similes, Ec 11:1-6; and then it is observed, that a life attended with outward prosperity and inward peace, and spent in doing good, is very delightful, and very desirable it is to have it continued; yet it should be remembered this will not be always, that many days of darkness in the grave will come; and after all the whole of a man's life is vanity, as is often inculcated, Ec 11:7,8; and the chapter is closed with an ironic address to young men, designed to show them the folly and danger of sinful courses, to reform them from them, and to put them in mind of a future judgment, Ec 11:9,10.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 14

  • 1. [Psalms 112:9; Matthew 5:42; Luke 6:30; 1 Timothy 6:18, 19]
  • 2. Micah 5:5; See Job 5:19; Proverbs 6:16
  • 3. [Luke 16:9; Ephesians 5:16]
  • 4. [Ecclesiastes 1:6; John 3:8]
  • 5. See Psalms 139:13-16
  • 6. Ecclesiastes 7:18
  • 7. Ecclesiastes 6:5; Ecclesiastes 7:11
  • 8. [Ecclesiastes 12:1, 2]
  • 9. Ecclesiastes 2:23; See Ecclesiastes 1:2
  • 10. [Ecclesiastes 2:10; Ecclesiastes 9:7]
  • 11. [Numbers 15:39; Job 31:7]
  • 12. Ecclesiastes 6:9
  • 13. See Ecclesiastes 12:14
  • 14. 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Timothy 2:22

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Some Hebrew manuscripts, Targum; most Hebrew manuscripts As you do not know the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb
  • [b]. Or evil
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.