Sunday Sermonette: Lost in translation

Chapter 11 is  noteworthy because it is on the one hand often quoted, but on the other hand highly ambiguous in meaning. The translators of the NIV have taken it upon themselves to choose among various meanings that have been proposed, but the choices are highly dubious. Let me offer the more famous KJV of the opening verses.

¹Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

²Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

People have interpreted these lines in various ways. The most popular is basically a version of karma: give generously to others and good things will come your way in return. However, since as Weber said, the protestant ethic is the spirit of capitalism, the NIV translators have decided that this is an exhortation to invest in foreign ventures. What the heck the subsequent verses are supposed to mean is anybody's guess. Of course, nowadays we do know how the body is formed in the mother's womb. Again, the suggestion the NIV translators make that this is really about ensoulment is completely fanciful, there is nothing in the Hebrew to suggest that, it just comports with their (very recently formed) religious beliefs. So, what I'm telling you is that this translation is tendentious. We don't really know what the author was trying to say.

11 Ship your grain across the sea;
    after many days you may receive a return.
² Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
    you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

³ If clouds are full of water,
    they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
⁴ Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

⁵ As you do not know the path of the wind,
    or how the body is formed^[a] in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.

⁶ Sow your seed in the morning,
    and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
    whether this or that,
    or whether both will do equally well.

Remember Your Creator While Young

⁷ Light is sweet,
    and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
⁸ However many years anyone may live,
    let them enjoy them all.
But let them remember the days of darkness,
    for there will be many.
    Everything to come is meaningless.

⁹ You who are young, be happy while you are young,
    and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
    and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
    God will bring you into judgment.
¹⁰ So then, banish anxiety from your heart
    and cast off the troubles of your body,
    for youth and vigor are meaningless.

Footnotes

1. Ecclesiastes 11:5 Or know how life (or the spirit) / enters the body being formed