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About this chapterThe Teacher encourages generosity and bold action: cast your bread on the waters, invest in more than one venture, and do not wait for perfect weather, since you cannot know what disaster may come or how God makes all things. Whoever watches the wind will not plant, and whoever looks at clouds will not reap. He urges rejoicing in every year of life, even while remembering the days of darkness to come. Young people are told to be happy in their youth, follow their heart, and remember that God will bring everything into judgment. The chapter joins joy, diligence, and accountability.

The Teacher encourages generosity and bold action: cast your bread on the waters, invest in more than one venture, and do not wait for perfect weather, since you cannot know what disaster may come or how God makes all things. Whoever watches the wind will not plant, and whoever looks at clouds will not reap. He urges rejoicing in every year of life, even while remembering the days of darkness to come. Young people are told to be happy in their youth, follow their heart, and remember that God will bring everything into judgment. The chapter joins joy, diligence, and accountability.

Themes

  • Generosity and risk
  • Rejoicing in youth
  • Accountability before God

Key verses

Audio Bible · Ecclesiastes 11

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Ecclesiastes 11

Berean Standard Bible10 verses · 1 min read

1Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. 2Divide your portion among seven, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may befall the land. 3If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain upon the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. 4He who watches the wind will fail to sow, and he who observes the clouds will fail to reap. 5As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. 6Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper. 7Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. 8So if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is futile. 9Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment. 10So banish sorrow from your heart, and cast off pain from your body, for youth and vigor are fleeting.
Verses in Ecclesiastes 11

Chapters of Ecclesiastes

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