Ecclesiastes 11:3-10

3 If the clouds are full, they pour out 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 1know the path of the wind and 2how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not 3know the activity of God who makes all things.
6 Sow your seed 4in the morning and do not be idle * 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 pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to 5see the sun.
8 Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him 6rejoice in them all, and let him remember the 7days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.
9 Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the 8desires of your eyes. Yet know that 9God will bring you to judgment for all these things.
10 So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away 10pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

Ecclesiastes 11:3-10 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.

Cross References 10

  • 1. John 3:8
  • 2. Psalms 139:13-16
  • 3. Ecclesiastes 1:13; Ecclesiastes 3:10, 11; Ecclesiastes 8:17
  • 4. Ecclesiastes 9:10
  • 5. Ecclesiastes 6:5; Ecclesiastes 7:11
  • 6. Ecclesiastes 9:7
  • 7. Ecclesiastes 12:1
  • 8. Numbers 15:39; Job 31:7; Ecclesiastes 2:10
  • 9. Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans 14:10
  • 10. 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Timothy 2:22

Footnotes 8

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