1   Send your grain across the seas, and in time you will get a return. 2   Divide your merchandise among seven ventures, eight maybe, since you do not know what disasters may occur on earth. ^note 3   If the clouds are heavy with rain, they will discharge it on the earth; whether a tree falls south or north, it must lie as it falls. 4   He who watches the wind will never sow, and he who keeps an eye on the clouds will never reap. 5   You do not know how a pregnant woman comes to have a body and a living spirit in her womb; nor do you know how God, the maker of all things, works. 6   In the morning sow your seed betimes, and do not stop work until evening, for you do not know whether this or that sowing will be successful, or whether both alike will do well.

Advice to a young man

7   The light of day is sweet, and pleasant to the eye is the sight of the sun; 8   if a man lives for many years, he should rejoice in all of them. But let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. 9   Everything that is to come will be emptiness. Delight in your boyhood, young man, make the most of the days of your youth; let your heart and your eyes show you the way; but remember that for all these things God will call you to account. 10   Banish discontent from your mind, and shake off the troubles of the body; boyhood and the prime of life are mere emptiness.

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