Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁵ Why should I be afraid of bad days?
    Why should I fear when evil men surround me?
⁶ They trust in their money.
    They brag about their riches.
⁷ No one can buy back the life of another person.
    No one can pay God for his own life.
⁸ The price of a life is high.
    No payment is ever enough.
⁹ Do people live forever?
    Don’t they all face death?

¹⁰ See, even wise men die.
    Fools and stupid people also die.
    They leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their graves will always be their homes.
    They will live there from now on,
    even though they named places after themselves.
¹² Even rich people do not live forever.
    Like the animals, people die.

23 If you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    notice the food that is in front of you.
² Control yourself
    if you have a big appetite.
³ Don’t be greedy for his fine foods.
    He might use that rich food to trick you.

⁴ Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.
    Be wise enough to control yourself.
⁵ Wealth can vanish in the wink of an eye.
    It seems to grow wings
    and fly away like an eagle in the sky.

⁶ Don’t eat the food of a selfish person.
    Don’t be greedy for his fine foods.
⁷ A selfish person is always worrying
    about how much the food costs.
He tells you, “Eat and drink.”
    But he doesn’t really mean it.
⁸ So you will feel like throwing up the little bit you have eaten.
    And you will have wasted your kind words.

⁹ Don’t speak to a foolish person.
    He will only ignore your wise words.

¹⁰ Don’t move an old stone that shows where somebody’s land is.
    And don’t take fields that belong to orphans.
¹¹ God, their defender, is strong.
    He will take their side against you.

“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Who has been able to give the Lord advice?” Isaiah 40:13
³⁵ “No one has ever given God anything
    that he must pay back.” Job 41:11