Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.
Riches cannot save you
49 Listen to this, people from every nation.
Yes, listen carefully,
everyone who lives in this world!
2 All people must listen, whoever you are,
whether you are rich people or poor people.
3 I will speak wise words to you.
When you know my thoughts,
you will understand things better.
4 I have studied proverbs.
I explain what they mean
as I make music on my harp.
5 When trouble comes,
why am I afraid?
When cruel people are all round me,
and they want to hurt me,
why am I afraid?
6 Those people think that their money will keep them safe.
They are proud about their riches.
7 Nobody can pay the price to save another person.
Nobody can pay God the price for their life.
8 A human life costs too much to buy it back.
Nobody could ever pay enough.
9 So nobody can live for ever.
Everyone goes to their grave one day.
10 Surely you see that even wise people die,
in the way that fools and stupid people also die.
Then their money will belong to someone else.
11 Their graves will be their homes for ever.
They had their own land,
which was called by their name,
12 but people do not live for ever,
even if they are very rich.
They will die, just like the animals.
Nothing has a purpose
1 These are the words of the Teacher, David's son, who ruled as king in Jerusalem.[a]
2 The Teacher says, ‘Nothing has a purpose.
Nothing that ever happens has a purpose.’
3 People work very hard while they live on the earth.
But in the end, what do they receive in return for their work?
4 Old people die and then their children live after them.
But the earth continues and it never changes.
5 The sun rises in the morning and it disappears in the evening.
Then it quickly moves to rise again the next morning.
6 The wind blows to the south. Then it turns to the north.
It blows in every direction. Then it starts again.
7 All rivers pour water into the sea, but the sea does not become full.
The water returns to the rivers and it all happens again.
8 Everything continues in the same way.
There is nothing important to talk about.
Nothing that we see is enough to make us happy.
There are always more things that we want to hear.
9 Things that are happening now will continue to happen in the future.
What people have done before, other people will do again.
There is nothing truly new anywhere on the earth.
10 People may say, ‘Look! Here is something new!’
But really it happened long ago, before we were born.
11 People do not remember things that happened in the past.
In the future, people will not remember what has happened either.
Jesus meets a rich man
17 While Jesus was starting on his journey, a man ran to him. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus. He said to Jesus, ‘Good teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’
18 Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you say that I am good? Only God is good. Nobody else. 19 You know God's rules:
“Do not kill anyone.
Do not have sex with anyone who is not your wife.
Do not rob anyone.
Do not say things that are not true about people.
Do not take things that are not yours.
Love your father and your mother, and obey them.” ’
20 ‘Teacher,’ the man replied, ‘I have obeyed all these laws since I was a young man.’
21 Jesus looked at the man and Jesus loved him. Jesus said to him, ‘There is still just one thing that you must do. Go now. Sell everything that you have. Then give the money to poor people. If you do that, you will have many valuable things in heaven. Then come back and be my disciple.’
22 When the man heard that, his face became sad. He was a very rich man. Because of that, he went away and he was very sad.
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