Ecclesiastes 11:1-7

1 Send forth thy bread on the face of the waters, For in the multitude of the days thou dost find it.

2 Give a portion to seven, and even to eight, For thou knowest not what evil is on the earth.

3 If the thick clouds are full of rain, On the earth they empty [themselves]; And if a tree doth fall in the south or to the north, The place where the tree falleth, there it is.

4 Whoso is observing the wind soweth not, And whoso is looking on the thick clouds reapeth not.

5 As thou knowest not what [is] the way of the spirit, How -- bones in the womb of the full one, So thou knowest not the work of God who maketh the whole.

6 In the morning sow thy seed, And at even withdraw not thy hand, For thou knowest not which is right, this or that, Or whether both of them alike [are] good.

7 Sweet also [is] the light, And good for the eyes to see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-7 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.