Ecclesiastes 11:3

The verse reads as follows in several scriptural translations:

• Westminster Leningrad Codex (Hebrew): "בַּדָּר֖וֹם עֵ֛ץ יִפּ֥וֹל וְאִם־ יָרִ֔יקוּ הָאָ֣רֶץ עַל־ גֶּ֙שֶׁם֙ הֶעָבִ֥ים יִמָּלְא֨וּ אִם יְהֽוּא שָׁ֥ם הָעֵ֖ץ שֶׁיִּפּ֥וֹל מְק֛וֹם בַּצָּפ֑וֹן וְאִ֣ם"[2]
• Septuagint (Greek): "ἐὰν πληρωθῶσιν τὰ νέφη ὑετοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆνἐκχέουσιν καὶ ἐὰν πέσῃ ξύλον ἐν τῷ νότῳ καὶἐὰν ἐν τῷ βορρᾷ τόπῳ οὗ πεσεῗται τὸ ξύλονἐκεῗ ἔσται"[3]
• King James Version (English): "If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be."[1]
• New American Standard Bible (English): "If the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies."[4]

The wide interpretation of the verse is that the fallen tree refers to the eschatological state of a human soul after death. Methodist writer Joseph Benson notes that:

...and if the tree fall, &c. — As if he had said, Therefore, let us just now bring forth the fruits of righteousness, because death will shortly cut us down, and we shall then be determined to unchangeable happiness or misery, according as our works have been.[5]

Likewise, the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says:

So man's character is unchangeable, whether for hell or heaven, once that death overtakes him.[5]