Ecclesiastes 11:1-7

1 Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you.
2 But divide your investments among many places, for you do not know what risks might lie ahead.
3 When clouds are heavy, the rains come down. Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.
4 Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
5 Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.
6 Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both.
7 Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or Give generously, / for your gifts will return to you later. Hebrew reads Throw your bread on the waters, / for after many days you will find it again.
  • [b]. Hebrew among seven or even eight.
  • [c]. Some manuscripts read Just as you cannot understand how breath comes to a tiny baby in its mother’s womb.
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