| International Standard Version | English Standard Version |
| 1Spread your bread on the water— after a while you will find it. | 1Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. |
| 2Apportion what you have into seven, or even eight parts, because you don't know what disaster might befall the land. | 2Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. |
| 3If the clouds are full of rain, they will pour out on the earth; if a tree falls toward the south or the north, wherever it falls, there it will lay. | 3If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on 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. |
| 4Whoever keeps staring at the wind won't sow; whoever daydreams won't reap. | 4He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. |
| 5Just as you do not understand the way of the spirit in the womb of a pregnant mother, so also you do not know what God is doing in everything he makes. | 5As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. |
| 6Sow your seed in the morning, and don't stop working until evening, since you don't know which of your endeavors will do well, whether this one or that, or even if both will do equally well. | 6In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. |
| 7How sweet is the daylight, and how pleasant it is for someone's eyes to behold the sunshine! | 7Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. |
| 8Even if a person lives many years, let him enjoy them all, recalling that there will be many days of darkness to come—all of which are pointless. | 8So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. |
| 9So enjoy yourself in your youth, young man, and be encouraged during your younger days. Live as you like, consistent with your world view, but keep in mind that God will bring you to account for everything. | 9Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. |
| 10Banish sorrow from your heart, and evil from your body, since both childhood and the prime of life are pointless. | 10Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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