Ecclesiastes
The Teacher tests pleasure, work, and wisdom and finds vanity apart from God. The book drives the reader to receive daily gifts with gratitude and to fear God and keep his commandments.
English Revised Version
Ecclesiastes 11
1Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. 2Give a portion to seven, yea, even unto eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. 3If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if a tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be. 4He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. 5As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the work of God who doeth all. 6In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. 7Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. 8Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. 9Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 10Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for youth and the prime of life are vanity.
English Revised Version (1885). Public domain. The 1881/1885 British revision of the King James Version; parent of the ASV.