Ecclesiastes 11:1-8

Ignorance of the Future Demands Diligence in the Present

11:1 Send your grain overseas,

for after many days you will get a return.

11:2 Divide your merchandise among seven or even eight investments,

for you do not know what calamity may happen on earth.

11:3 If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth,

and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls.

11:4 He who watches the wind will not sow,

and he who observes the clouds will not reap.

11:5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind,

or how the bones form in the womb of a pregnant woman,

so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

11:6 Sow your seed in the morning,

and do not stop working until the evening;

for you do not know which activity will succeed –

whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally.

Life Should Be Enjoyed Because Death is Inevitable

11:7 Light is sweet,

and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun.

11:8 So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all,

but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many – all that is about to come is obscure.