7 Truly the light H216 is sweet, H4966 and a pleasant H2896 thing it is for the eyes H5869 to behold H7200 the sun: H8121
Wisdom H2451 is good H2896 with an inheritance: H5159 and by it there is profit H3148 to them that see H7200 the sun. H8121
That G3704 ye may be G1096 the children G5207 of your G5216 Father G3962 which G3588 is in G1722 heaven: G3772 for G3754 he maketh G393 his G846 sun G2246 to rise G393 on G1909 the evil G4190 and G2532 on the good, G18 and G2532 sendeth rain G1026 on G1909 the just G1342 and G2532 on the unjust. G94
To bring back H7725 his soul H5315 from the pit, H7845 to be enlightened H215 with the light H216 of the living. H2416
The light H3974 of the eyes H5869 rejoiceth H8055 the heart: H3820 and a good H2896 report H8052 maketh H1878 the bones H6106 fat. H1878
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