OEB ECC Chapter 11

11 Cast thy bread on the face of the waters,

For after many days thou shalt find it.

2 Give a portion to seven, yea, even to eight,

For thou knowest not what evil may come on the land.

3 When the clouds are filled with rain,

They empty it over the earth.

If a tree falls northward or southward,

In the place where it falls it remains.

4 He who always is watching the wind

Never gets to his sowing.

He who always is scanning the clounds

Never gets to his reaping.

5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind,

Nor how the child grows in the womb of the mother,

So knowest thou not how God doth work–

He who worketh in all things evermore.

6 In the morning sow thy seed,

And till evening rest not thy hand;

For thou knowest not which of the two shall prosper,

Or whether both shall be good alike.

Rejoice, Young Man, in thy Youth: for the Sorrows of Age are Many and Sure

7 Sweet is the light, and pleasant it is

For the eyes to behold the sun.

8 For, though a man live many years,

All of them filled with gladness,

Yet let him remember the days of darkness,

For many shall they be.

All that cometh is vapour.

9 Rejoice, young man, in thy youth,

And keep thy young heart merry;

Walk in the ways of thy heart,

And in all that allureth thine eyes.

But know that for all these things

God will bring thee to judgment.

10 Put vexation away from thy mind,

And banish all gloom from thy body–

For youth and life’s dawn are illusions–