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Ecclesiastes 11 :: New International Version (NIV)

Invest in Many Ventures

Ecc 11:1

Ecc 11:1Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.

Ecc 11:2

Ecc 11:2Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

Ecc 11:3

Ecc 11:3If 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.

Ecc 11:4

Ecc 11:4Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

Ecc 11:5

Ecc 11:5As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed[fn] in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Ecc 11:6

Ecc 11:6Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

Remember Your Creator While Young

Ecc 11:7

Ecc 11:7Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

Ecc 11:8

Ecc 11:8However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless.

Ecc 11:9

Ecc 11:9You 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.

Ecc 11:10

Ecc 11:10So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV Footnotes
Or know how life (or the spirit) / enters the body being formed
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Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras