1 Send forth your bread on the face of the waters, || For in the multitude of the days you find it. 2 Give a portion to seven, and even to eight, || For you do not know what evil is on the earth. 3 If the thick clouds are full of rain, || On the earth they empty [themselves]; And if a tree falls in the south or to the north, || The place where the tree falls, there it is. 4 Whoever is observing the wind does not sow, || And whoever is looking on the thick clouds does not reap. 5 As you do not know what [is] the way of the spirit, || How—bones in the womb of the full one, || So you do not know the work of God who makes the whole. 6 In the morning sow your seed, || And at evening do not withdraw your hand, || For you do not know which is right, this or that, || Or whether both of them alike [are] good. 7 Sweet also [is] the light, || And good for the eyes to see the sun. 8 But if man lives many years, || In all of them let him rejoice, || And remember the days of darkness, || For they are many! All that is coming [is] vanity. 9 Rejoice, O young man, in your childhood, || And let your heart gladden you in days of your youth, || And walk in the ways of your heart, || And in the sight of your eyes, || And know that for all these, God brings you into judgment. 10 And turn aside anger from your heart, || And cause evil to pass from your flesh, || For the childhood and the age [are] vanity!