Ecclesiastes 11–12

Be Bold

11Put your money into trade across the ocean.

After a while you will earn something from it.

²Give shares of what you earn to a lot of people.

After all, you don’t know what great trouble might come on the land.

³Clouds that are full of water

pour rain down on the earth.

A tree might fall to the south or the north.

It will stay in the place where it falls.

⁴Anyone who keeps on watching the wind won’t plant seeds.

Anyone who keeps looking at the clouds won’t gather crops.

⁵You don’t know the path the wind takes.

You don’t know how a baby is made inside its mother.

So you can’t understand how God works either.

He made everything.

⁶In the morning plant your seeds.

In the evening keep your hands busy.

You don’t know what will succeed.

It may be one or the other.

Or both might do equally well.

Remember the One Who Created You

⁷Light is sweet.

People enjoy being out in the sun.

⁸No matter how many years a man might live,

let him enjoy all of them.

But let him remember the dark days.

There will be many of them.

Nothing that’s going to happen will have any meaning.

⁹Young man, be happy while you are still young.

Let your heart be joyful while you are still strong.

Do what your heart tells you to do.

Go after what your eyes look at.

But I want you to know

that God will judge you for everything you do.

¹⁰So drive worry out of your heart.

Get rid of all of your troubles.

Being young and strong doesn’t have any meaning.

12Remember the One who created you.

Remember him while you are still young.

Think about him before your times of trouble come.

The years will come when you will say,

“I don’t find any pleasure in them.”

²That’s when the sunlight will become dark.

The moon and the stars will also grow dark.

And the clouds will return after it rains.

³Remember your Creator before those who guard the house tremble with old age.

That’s when strong men will be bent over.

The women who grind grain will stop because there are so few of them left.

Those who look through the windows won’t be able to see very well.

⁴Remember your Creator before the front doors are closed.

That’s when the sound of grinding will fade away.

Old men will rise up when they hear birds singing.

But they will barely hear any of their songs.

⁵Remember your Creator before you become afraid of places that are too high.

You will also be terrified because of danger in the streets.

Remember your Creator before the almond trees have buds on them.

That’s when grasshoppers will drag themselves along.

Old men will not want to make love anymore.

Man will go to his dark home in the grave.

And those who sob over the dead will walk around in the streets.

⁶Remember your Creator before the silver cord is cut.

That’s when the golden bowl will be broken.

The wheel will be broken at the well.

The pitcher will be smashed at the spring.

⁷Remember your Creator before you return to the dust you came from.

That’s when your spirit will go back to God who gave it.

⁸“Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!”

says the Teacher.

“Nothing has any meaning.”

Have Respect for God

⁹The Teacher was wise. He gave knowledge to people. He put many proverbs to the test. He thought about them carefully. Then he wrote them down in order. ¹⁰He did his best to find just the right words. And what he wrote was honest and true.

¹¹The sayings of those who are wise move people to take action. Their collected sayings really nail things down. They are given to us by one Shepherd. ¹²My son, be careful not to pay attention to anything that is added to them.

Books will never stop being written. Too much studying makes people tired.

¹³Everything has now been heard.

And here’s the final thing I want to say.

Have respect for God and obey his commandments.

That’s what everyone should do.

¹⁴God will judge everything people do.

That includes everything they try to hide.

He’ll judge everything, whether it’s good or evil.