Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verse 4 Holy Bible
He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
read chapter 11 in ASV
He who is watching the wind will not get the seed planted, and he who is looking at the clouds will not get in the grain.
read chapter 11 in BBE
He that observeth the wind will not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds will not reap.
read chapter 11 in DARBY
He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
read chapter 11 in KJV
read chapter 11 in WBT
He who observes the wind won't sow; And he who regards the clouds won't reap.
read chapter 11 in WEB
Whoso is observing the wind soweth not, And whoso is looking on the thick clouds reapeth not.
read chapter 11 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - He that observeth the wind shall not sow. The fact of the uncertainty and immutability of the future ought not to make us supine or to crush out all diligence and activity. He who wants to anticipate results, to foresee and provide against all contingencies, to be his own providence, is like a farmer who is always looking to wind and weather, and misses the time for sowing in this needless caution. The quarter from which the wind blows regulates the downfall of rain (comp. Proverbs 25:23). In Palestine the west and north-west winds usually brought rain. He that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. For the purpose of softening the ground to receive the seed, rain was advantageous; but storms in harvest, of course, were pernicious (see 1 Samuel 12:17, etc.; Proverbs 26:1); and he who was anxiously fearing every indication of such weather, and altering his plans at every phase of the sky, might easily put off reaping his fields till either the crops were spoiled or the rainy season had set in. A familiar proverb says," A watched pot never boils." Some risks must always be run if we are to do our work in the world; we cannot make a certainty of anything; probability in the guide of life. We cannot secure ourselves from failure; we can but do our best, and uncertainty of result must not paralyze exertion. "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy" (Romans 9:16). St. Gregory deduces a lesson from this verse: "He calls the unclean spirit wind, but men who are subjected to him clouds; whom he impels backwards and forwards, hither and thither, as often as his temptations alternate in their hearts from the blasts of suggestions. He therefore who observes the wind does not sow, since he who dreads coming temptations does not direct his heart to doing good. And he who regards the clouds does not reap, since he who trembles from the dread of human fickleness deprives himself of the recompense of an eternal reward" ('Moral.,' 27:14).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) But it is idle to try to guard against all possibilities of failure. To demand a certainty of success before acting would mean not to act at all.
