Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Wealth and the Fate of the Wicked
For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.[a]
49 Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth will speak wisdom,
and the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will propound[b] my riddle on a lyre.
5 Why should I fear in times of calamity,[c]
when iniquity surrounds me at my heels,
6 those who trust their wealth
and boast about the abundance of their riches?
7 Surely a man cannot redeem a brother.
He cannot give to God his ransom
8 (since[d] the redemption price for their life is costly
and it always fails),
9 so that he may stay alive forever
and not see the pit.
10 For he sees that the wise die,
together with the fool and brute they perish,
and leave their wealth to the next generation.
11 Within them they think their houses are forever,
their dwelling places from generation to generation.
They name[e] their lands by their own names.
12 But man cannot continue in his pomp.
He is like the beasts that perish.
Prologue
1 The words of the Teacher,[a] the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Motto Introduced
2 “Vanity of vanities!” says the Teacher,[b]
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!”
All Toil is Profitless and Repetitious
3 What does a person gain in all his toil
with which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth stands forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down;
to its place it hurries,[c] and there it rises again.
6 The wind goes to the south and goes around to the north;
around and around it goes, and on its circuit the wind returns.
7 All the streams flow to the sea,
but the sea is never full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
8 All things toil continuously;[d]
no one can ever finish describing this.[e]
The eye is never[f] satisfied with seeing,
and the ear is never[g] filled with hearing.
9 What has been—it is what will be;
what has been done—it is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 There is a thing of which it is said, “Look at this! This is new!”
But it already existed in ages past before us.
11 There is neither remembrance of former generations,
nor will there be remembrance of future generations.
A Rich Young Man
17 And as[a] he was setting out on his way, one individual ran up and knelt down before him and[b] asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do so that I will inherit eternal life?” 18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”[c] 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all that you have, and give the proceeds[d] to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me.” 22 But he looked gloomy at the statement and[e] went away sorrowful, because he had[f] many possessions.
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