1 Cast H7971 thy bread H3899 upon H6440 the waters: H4325 for thou shalt find H4672 it after many H7230 days. H3117
2 Give H5414 a portion H2506 to seven, H7651 and also to eight; H8083 for thou knowest H3045 not what evil H7451 shall be upon the earth. H776
3 If the clouds H5645 be full H4390 of rain, H1653 they empty H7324 themselves upon the earth: H776 and if the tree H6086 fall H5307 toward the south, H1864 or toward the north, H6828 in the place H4725 where the tree H6086 falleth, H5307 there it shall be. H1933
4 He that observeth H8104 the wind H7307 shall not sow; H2232 and he that regardeth H7200 the clouds H5645 shall not reap. H7114
5 As thou knowest H3045 not what is the way H1870 of the spirit, H7307 nor how the bones H6106 do grow in the womb H990 of her that is with child: H4392 even so thou knowest H3045 not the works H4639 of God H430 who maketh H6213 all.
6 In the morning H1242 sow H2232 thy seed, H2233 and in the evening H6153 withhold H3240 not thine hand: H3027 for thou knowest H3045 not whether H335 shall prosper, H3787 either this or that, or whether they both H8147 shall be alike H259 good. H2896
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 11
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 11 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
“Let thy bread go forth over the watery mirror: for in the course of many days shalt thou find it.” Most interpreters, chiefly the Talm., Midrash, and Targ.,
(Note: The Midrash tells the following story: Rabbi Akiba sees a ship wrecked which carried in it one learned in the law. He finds him again actively engaged in Cappadocia. What whale, he asked him, has vomited thee out upon dry land? How hast thou merited this? The scribe learned in the law thereupon related that when he went on board the ship, he gave a loaf of bread to a poor man, who thanked him for it, saying: As thou hast saved my life, may thy life be saved. Thereupon Akiba thought of the proverb in Ecclesiastes 11:1. Similarly the Targ.: Extend to the poor the bread for thy support; they sail in ships over the water.)
regard this as an exhortation to charity, which although practised without expectation of reward, does not yet remain unrewarded at last. An Aram. proverb of Ben Sira's ( vid ., Buxtorf's Florilegium , p. 171) proceeds on this interpretation: “Scatter thy bread on the water and on the dry land; in the end of the days thou findest it again.” Knobel quotes a similar Arab. proverb from Diez' Denkwürdigkeiten von Asien (Souvenirs of Asia), II 106: “Do good; cast thy bread into the water: thou shalt be repaid some day.” See also the proverb in Goethe's Westöst. Divan , compared by Herzfeld. Voltaire, in his Précis de l'Ecclésiaste en vers , also adopts this rendering:
Repandez vos bien faits avec magnificence,
Même aux moins vertueux ne les refusez pas.
Ne vous informez pas de leur reconnaissance -
Il est grand, il est beau de faire des ingrats