Ecclesiastes 11
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 11
The Splendid Adventure of Life[a]
1 Cast your bread upon the waters,[b]
and eventually you will get it back.
2 Share with seven or with eight,[c]
for you never can predict what disasters will come.
3 When clouds are full of rain,
they will pour it out upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
wherever it falls, there will it lie.
4 One who continues to watch the wind will never sow,
and one who keeps staring at the clouds will never reap.
5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind
or how the body is formed in a woman’s womb,
so you do not know the work of God,
the Creator of all.
6 In the morning sow your seed,[d]
and do not cease your labor until evening.
For you do not know which of the sowings will succeed
or whether all alike will turn out well.
Poem on Youth and Old Age[e]
In the Evening of Life
God and Light
7 Light is sweet,
and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
8 No matter how many years you may live,
you should enjoy all of them,
for remember that the days of darkness will be many.
Everything that is to come is vanity.
Rejoice in Your Youth
9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young,
and make the most of the days of your youth.
Follow the inclinations of your heart
and the desires of your eyes.
Yet remember that for all these things
God will demand an account.[f]
10 Banish grief from your heart
and ignore the sufferings of your body,
for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 11:1 Qoheleth calls upon us to take risks. This alone depends on us, while everything else remains in the mystery of God. Qoheleth has called upon us to trust in God without having recourse to pathetic discourses and taught us the true hope, one based on the proof of facts.
- Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast your bread upon the waters: a summons to be adventurous like those who braved the rigors of seagoing trade and achieved wealth (see Prov 11:24).
- Ecclesiastes 11:2 Share with seven or with eight: this may refer to sharing our resources with others or to avoiding putting all our eggs in one basket.
- Ecclesiastes 11:6 Clouds . . . tree . . . wind . . . seed: we must keep in mind that nothing is ever really certain to occur in life. Our task is to make an educated guess about future projects and act on them as best we can.
- Ecclesiastes 11:7 This section is one of the most beautiful poetic compositions of the Bible. It sings of the sun and the joy of youth with a touch of melancholy. This is followed by a moving portrait of old age that is very fair and very true (Eccl 12:3-5).
The writer speaks of an eternal home, although this means a survival of which he knows nothing. As the dust returns to the earth, the breath, i.e., the life, returns to God who, as it were, stores it up. Our author, who sees the world as an eternal return of all things (see ch. 1), can also speak of a return to God. - Ecclesiastes 11:9 God will demand an account: hence, every detail of life is in no way meaningless or vanity but of great importance.
