Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
12 ¶ I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven (this sore travail God has given to the sons of man that they be occupied in it).
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun, which I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool, he who shall have rule over all my labour in which I have laboured and in which I have showed myself wise under the sun? This is also vanity.
20 Therefore my heart began to despair again regarding all the labour which I took under the sun.
21 That the man who worked with wisdom and with knowledge and with uprightness would have to leave his portion to a man that has not laboured therein. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what does man have of all his labour and of the vexation of his heart in which he has laboured under the sun?
23 For all his days are only sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. This is also vanity.
To the Overcomer: A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
1 ¶ Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart intelligence.
4 I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will declare my enigma upon the harp.
5 Why should I fear in the days of adversity when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
6 ¶ Those that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
7 none of them can by any means ransom his brother, nor give God an atonement for him;
8 (for the redemption of their soul is of great price, and they shall never pay it)
9 that he should still live for ever and not see corruption.
10 For he sees that all the wise men die, likewise the fool and the ignorant perish and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is that their houses are eternal and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man will not abide forever in honour; he is like the beasts that are cut off.
3 ¶ If ye then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where the Christ sits at the right hand of God.
2 Set your sight on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead and your life is hid with the Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory.
5 ¶ Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil lust, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
6 for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience,
7 in which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 ¶ But now put ye also off all these things: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, putting off the old man with his deeds
10 and being clothed with the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one that created him,
11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor free: but Christ is all and in all.
13 ¶ And one of the crowd said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
14 And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
15 And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.
16 And he spoke a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully;
17 and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my storehouses and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast stored up?
21 So is he that lays up treasure for himself and is not rich in God.
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