The Preacher opens with the command: cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it again after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, because you do not know what evil may come upon the earth. Natural things follow their own course: when the clouds are full of rain they empty themselves on the earth, and wherever a tree falls, south or north, there it will lie. The one who watches the wind will never sow, and the one who watches the clouds will never reap.
Just as you do not know the way of the spirit, or how the bones grow in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. Therefore: in the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not hold back your hand. You do not know which will prosper, this effort or that one, or whether both will turn out equally well.
Light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun. But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, let him remember that the days of darkness will also be many. All that comes is vanity.
The Preacher turns to the young directly: rejoice in your youth, let your heart cheer you, walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.
Coming Up in Chapter 12
The Teacher's final words turn toward aging and mortality, offering a poetic meditation on remembering life's source while we still can appreciate beauty and meaning The Preacher opens his final chapter with an urgent command: remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, before the years arrive when you will say there is no pleasure in them. What.
