Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A song to sing as we climb.
Solomon wrote this song.
Every good thing comes from God[a]
127 The Lord must build your house.
If not, the work of the builders is useless.
The Lord must keep the city safe.
If not, the city guards are useless.
2 It will not help you to work all day for food, and never stop.
God gives food to the people that he loves.
Even while they sleep, God takes care of them.
3 Children are a gift from the Lord.
He blesses us with descendants.
4 If you have sons while you are a young man,
they are like a soldier's arrows.
5 If a man has many sons,
God has blessed him.[b]
When his enemies speak against him at the city gate,
they will not win.[c]
Are people like animals?
16 I saw something else that happens on the earth.
Judges should choose what is right,
but instead they choose what is wicked.
They should decide what is fair,
but they do evil things.
17 I said to myself,
‘One day, God will judge everyone,
righteous people and wicked people.
He has chosen a time for everything.
So there is a right time when he will judge people.’
18 I also thought, ‘God wants people to know that they are like animals. That is why he tests us. 19 The same thing happens to humans as happens to animals. We all breathe for a time and then we die. Humans are no different to animals. Life has no purpose. 20 All living things finally go to the same place. We all come from the dust of the ground. And we all go back to the dust when we die.[a] 21 Do the spirits of humans go up into the sky when we die? Do the spirits of animals go down into the ground? Nobody really knows.’[b]
22 So I realized that people should enjoy the work that they do. That is the best thing for us to do. It is what God has provided for us. I think that is best, because nobody can show us what will finally happen to us.
Other things that have no purpose[c]
4 I saw again all the ways that people are cruel on the earth.
I saw some people who were crying because cruel people were hurting them.
There was nobody who could help them.
Nobody could rescue them from those cruel people.
2 I thought about people who are already dead.
I decided that they are happier than the people who are still alive.
3 But people who have not yet been born are even happier!
They have not seen the evil things that happen on the earth.
4 I also thought about the clever work that people do. I saw that people work hard because they are jealous of each other. They want to do better than other people. I realized that this has no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
5 Foolish people refuse to work.
They sit and they do nothing.
So they become hungry and they die.
6 It is good to have only a little food and be happy.
That is better than too much hard work that gives you a lot of food.
It is as useless as somebody who tries to catch the wind.
7 I thought about something else on the earth that has no purpose.
8 There are people who live alone.
They have no friends, children or brothers.
They work hard every day.
They want to get more riches for themselves.
But they are never happy with the things that they have.
They should ask themselves, ‘Why am I working so hard?
Am I helping anybody?
I am not doing things that make me happy.’
Their work has no purpose. It only brings trouble to their lives.
Paul tells the believers to pray
2 Continue to pray seriously. Stay awake, like people who watch carefully. And remember to thank God. 3 Also pray for us. Ask God to make it possible for us to tell people his message. We want people to understand the message about Christ that was a secret before. I am now in a prison because I taught people those things. 4 Pray that I will be able to tell people this message clearly. That is what I should do.
5 When you are with people who do not believe in Christ, be careful how you live. Use every chance to do good things. 6 When you speak to people, always speak kind words. Say things that will help them. Then, when someone asks you a question, you will know how to reply.
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