Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
2 Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities, says the Preacher. Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities! All is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and vainglory).(A)
12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I applied myself by heart and mind to seek and search out by [human] [a]wisdom all human activity under heaven. It is a miserable business which [b]God has given to the sons of man with which to busy themselves.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a striving after the wind and a feeding on wind.
18 And I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will succeed me.(A)
19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have dominion over all my labor in which I have toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!
20 So I turned around and gave my heart up to despair over all the labor of my efforts under the sun.
21 For here is a man whose labor is with wisdom and knowledge and skill; yet to a man who has not toiled for it he must leave it all as his portion. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and a great evil!
22 For what has a man left from all his labor and from the striving and vexation of his heart in which he has toiled under the sun?
23 For all his days are but pain and sorrow, and his work is a vexation and grief; his mind takes no rest even at night. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!
Psalm 49
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 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 shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will submit and consent to a parable or proverb; to the music of a lyre I will unfold my riddle (my problem).
5 Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of those who would supplant me surrounds me on every side,
6 Even of those who trust in and lean on their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him—
8 For the ransom of a life is too costly, and [the price one can pay] can never suffice—
9 So that he should live on forever and never see the pit (the grave) and corruption.
10 For he sees that even wise men die; the [self-confident] fool and the stupid alike perish and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands their own [apart from God] and after their own names.
12 But man, with all his honor and pomp, does not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.
3 If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.(A)
2 And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.
3 For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory.
5 So kill (deaden, [a]deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).
6 It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon the sons of disobedience (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will),
7 Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in and addicted to [such practices].
8 But now put away and rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses and slander, and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips!
9 Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old (unregenerate) self with its evil practices,
10 And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect [b]knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him Who created it.(B)
11 [In this new creation all distinctions vanish.] There [c]is no room for and there can be neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, [nor difference between nations whether alien] barbarians or Scythians [[d]who are the most savage of all], nor slave or free man; but Christ is all and in all [[e]everything and everywhere, to all men, without distinction of person].
13 Someone from the crowd said to Him, Master, order my brother to divide the inheritance and share it with me.
14 But He told him, Man, who has appointed Me a judge or umpire and divider over you?
15 And He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man’s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing [a]overflowing abundance or that which is [b]over and above his needs.
16 Then He told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully.
17 And he considered and debated within himself, What shall I do? I have no place [in which] to gather together my harvest.
18 And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my storehouses and build larger ones, and there I will store all [c]my grain or produce and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up, [enough] for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily.
20 But God said to him, You fool! This very night [d] they [the messengers of God] will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?(A)
21 So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich [in his relation] to God [this is how he fares].
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation