Ecclesiastes 11 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Send your bread out over the water — after many days, it will come back to you.

Share what you have with seven, even eight — you never know what disaster may strike the land.

When the clouds are full, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or the north — wherever it falls, there it stays.

Whoever watches the wind will never plant. Whoever stares at the clouds will never harvest.

Just as you don't understand how breath enters the bones of a child in the womb, you cannot understand the work of God who makes everything.

Start planting in the morning and don't stop until evening — because you have no idea which effort will succeed, this one or that one, or whether both will turn out equally good.

Light is sweet, and it's good for the eyes to see the sun.

Even if someone lives many years, let them find joy in every one. But let them also remember — the dark days are coming, and there will be many. Everything that is coming is vapor.

Be happy, young person, while you're young. Let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow wherever your heart leads and whatever your eyes see — but know this: God will bring you to account for all of it.

So clear the worry from your heart and keep the pain from your body — because youth and the dawn of life are vapor.