| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Send your bread on the surface of the waters, for after many days you may find it. | 1Send your grain across the seas, and in time, profits will flow back to you. |
| 2Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don't know what disaster may happen on earth. | 2But divide your investments among many places, for you do not know what risks might lie ahead. |
| 3If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or the north, the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. | 3When clouds are heavy, the rains come down. Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls. |
| 4One who watches the wind will not sow, and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap. | 4Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest. |
| 5Just as you don't know the path of the wind, or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you don't know the work of God who makes everything. | 5Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. |
| 6In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hand rest, because you don't know which will succeed, whether one or the other, or if both of them will be equally good. | 6Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both. Advice for Young and Old |
| 7Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun. | 7Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning. |
| 8Indeed, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile. | 8When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless. |
| 9Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment. | 9Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do. |
| 10Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting. | 10So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless. |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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