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11 Mitte panem tuum super transeuntes aquas, quia post tempora multa invenies illum.

Da partem septem necnon et octo, quia ignoras quid futurum sit mali super terram.

Si repletae fuerint nubes, imbrem super terram effundent. Si ceciderit lignum ad austrum aut ad aquilonem, in quocumque loco ceciderit, ibi erit.

Qui observat ventum non seminat; et qui considerat nubes numquam metet.

Quomodo ignoras quae sit via spiritus, et qua ratione compingantur ossa in ventre praegnantis, sic nescis opera Dei, qui fabricator est omnium.

Mane semina semen tuum, et vespere ne cesset manus tua: quia nescis quid magis oriatur, hoc aut illud; et si utrumque simul, melius erit.

Dulce lumen, et delectabile est oculis videre solem.

Si annis multis vixerit homo, et in his omnibus laetatus fuerit, meminisse debet tenebrosi temporis, et dierum multorum, qui cum venerint, vanitatis arguentur praeterita.

Laetare ergo, juvenis, in adolescentia tua, et in bono sit cor tuum in diebus juventutis tuae: et ambula in viis cordis tui, et in intuitu oculorum tuorum, et scito quod pro omnibus his adducet te Deus in judicium.

10 Aufer iram a corde tuo, et amove malitiam a carne tua: adolescentia enim et voluptas vana sunt.

Invest in Many Ventures

11 Ship(A) your grain across the sea;
    after many days you may receive a return.(B)
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
    you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

If clouds are full of water,
    they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the path of the wind,(C)
    or how the body is formed[a] in a mother’s womb,(D)
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.

Sow your seed in the morning,
    and at evening let your hands not be idle,(E)
for you do not know which will succeed,
    whether this or that,
    or whether both will do equally well.

Remember Your Creator While Young

Light is sweet,
    and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.(F)
However many years anyone may live,
    let them enjoy them all.
But let them remember(G) the days of darkness,
    for there will be many.
    Everything to come is meaningless.

You who are young, be happy while you are young,
    and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
    and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
    God will bring you into judgment.(H)
10 So then, banish anxiety(I) from your heart
    and cast off the troubles of your body,
    for youth and vigor are meaningless.(J)

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 11:5 Or know how life (or the spirit) / enters the body being formed