Ecclesiastes 11:1 BSB

Ecclesiastes 11:1

Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.

KJV

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

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Commentary

3 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Ecclesiastes (420)

"Send your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it." He encourages to mercy since it must be given to all that seek wisdom, and work well. For just as he sows over the well-watered fields and awaits the produce of his seed, so too he who is generous to the needy does not sow the grain of his seed, but bread itself. And he waits for it to grow into his future profit; and when the day of judgement comes much more will be found to have grown than was at first sown.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

The verse means: “Show hospitality, even though the corresponding return of hospitality to you may seem improbable; nevertheless, be hospitable in faith.” Compare Luk 14:13-14; Heb 13:2. Some interpreters (not unreasonably) understand by “bread” the seed from the produce of which bread is made. Seed cast upon the fertile soil flooded by the early rains would be returned to the sower in autumn with large increase.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Ec 11:2 shows that charity is here inculcated. bread--bread corn. As in the Lord's prayer, all things needful for the body and soul. Solomon reverts to the sentiment (Ec 9:10). waters--image from the custom of sowing seed by casting it from boats into the overflowing waters of the Nile, or in any marshy ground.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

9 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
שַׁלַּ֥ח	sha.Lach	send	H7971 →
לַחְמְךָ֖	lach.me.Kha	bread your	H3899 →
עַל־	'al-	on	H5921 →
פְּנֵ֣י	pe.Nei	[the] surface of	H6440 →
הַמָּ֑יִם	ha.Ma.yim	the waters	H4325 →
כִּֽי־	ki-	for	H3588 →
בְרֹ֥ב	ve.Ro	in [the] abundance of	H7230 →
הַיָּמִ֖ים	hai.ya.Mim	<the> days	H3117 →
תִּמְצָאֶֽנּוּ׃	tim.tza.'E.nu	you will find it	H4672 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Ecclesiastes 11:6
Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.
leads to
- 2 Corinthians 9:10–11
  Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness.
- Isaiah 55:10
  For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
- Haggai 1:6–11
  You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into…
- Hosea 10:12
  Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.
- 2 Corinthians 9:6
  Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Through
Proverbs 19:17
Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.
leads to
- Hebrews 6:10
  For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Matthew 25:40
  And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Through
2 Corinthians 9:6
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
leads to
- Luke 6:38
  Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured…
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.

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About Ecclesiastes

King Solomon in Old Age — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Ecclesiastes: the study guide →Read chapter 11 →The featured study →

Continue: Ecclesiastes 11 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Ecclesiastes

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Ecclesiastes