| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Spread your bread on the water— after a while you will find it. | 1Send your bread on the surface of the waters, for after many days you may find it. |
| 2Apportion what you have into seven, or even eight parts, because you don't know what disaster might befall the land. | 2Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you don't know what disaster may happen on earth. |
| 3If the clouds are full of rain, they will pour out on the earth; if a tree falls toward the south or the north, wherever it falls, there it will lay. | 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. |
| 4Whoever keeps staring at the wind won't sow; whoever daydreams won't reap. | 4One who watches the wind will not sow, and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap. |
| 5Just as you do not understand the way of the spirit in the womb of a pregnant mother, so also you do not know what God is doing in everything he makes. | 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. |
| 6Sow your seed in the morning, and don't stop working until evening, since you don't know which of your endeavors will do well, whether this one or that, or even if both will do equally well. | 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. |
| 7How sweet is the daylight, and how pleasant it is for someone's eyes to behold the sunshine! | 7Light is sweet, and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun. |
| 8Even if a person lives many years, let him enjoy them all, recalling that there will be many days of darkness to come—all of which are pointless. | 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. |
| 9So enjoy yourself in your youth, young man, and be encouraged during your younger days. Live as you like, consistent with your world view, but keep in mind that God will bring you to account for everything. | 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. |
| 10Banish sorrow from your heart, and evil from your body, since both childhood and the prime of life are pointless. | 10Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting. |
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