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Ecclesiastes 11

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Cast your bread upon the waters

1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it. 2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil may come upon the earth. 3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty it upon 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 watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. 5 As you do not know the way of the spirit, how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the work of Elohim who makes all things. 6 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not let your hand rest; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Rejoice in your youth

7 Light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun. 8 For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that comes is vanity. 9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you 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 Elohim will bring you into judgment. 10 So remove grief from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Notes

  • 11:1 "Cast" is literally "send": "send your bread on the face of the waters." It has long been read in two ways. Many hear a call to generosity: give freely, even where no return seems possible, and it will come back to you, which fits the next verse. Others hear the language of sea trade, sending grain abroad by ship (compare 1 Kings 10:22): venture boldly, for the return comes in time. Both readings urge action in the face of an unknown future (11:2, 6).
  • 11:5 Ruach is "wind" in verse 4 and "spirit" here, and the Hebrew lets one word carry both (see the note at 3:21). Many understand it as the breath of life that enters the unborn child as its bones are formed; others read "the way of the wind." Either way, the Preacher sets the hidden work of Elohim, who forms life in the womb, beside man's small knowledge, and so urges him to sow without waiting to understand everything (11:6).
  • 11:9 Joy and accountability stand together here. "Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes" sounds at first like the opposite of the Torah's command that Israel "not go roaming after your own heart and your own eyes" (Numbers 15:39), and later Jewish tradition tells that this very verse troubled the sages until they read its last line. The Preacher does not permit sin; he urges the young to enjoy life as a gift while knowing that Elohim will judge, as the book's final words also say (12:14).
  • 11:10 "The dawn of life" translates shacharut, related to shachar, "dawn"; some take it from "black," the dark hair of youth before it turns white (compare 12:5). Here "vanity" (hevel, see the note at 1:2) means that youth is fleeting like a breath, not that it is worthless: it passes quickly, so it should be lived well.

Ecclesiastes 10 · Ecclesiastes 12

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