| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Send your bread on the surface of the waters, for after many days you may find it. | 1Send your grain overseas, for after many days you will get a return. |
| 2Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don't know what disaster may happen on earth. | 2Divide your merchandise among seven or even eight investments, for you do not know what calamity may happen on earth. |
| 3If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or the north, the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. | 3If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth, and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls. |
| 4One who watches the wind will not sow, and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap. | 4He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who observes the clouds will not reap. |
| 5Just as you don't know the path of the wind, or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you don't know the work of God who makes everything. | 5Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones form in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. |
| 6In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hand rest, because you don't know which will succeed, whether one or the other, or if both of them will be equally good. | 6Sow your seed in the morning, and do not stop working until the evening; for you do not know which activity will succeed--whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally. |
| 7Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun. | 7Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun. |
| 8Indeed, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile. | 8So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many--all that is about to come is obscure. |
| 9Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment. | 9Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. |
| 10Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting. | 10Banish emotional stress from your mind. and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting. |
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