Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 127

A Song of ^[a]Ascents. Of Solomon.

¹ Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.^(A)

² It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil—for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.

³ Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.^(B)

⁴ As arrows are in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.

⁵ Happy, blessed, and fortunate is the man whose quiver is filled with them! They will not be put to shame when they speak with their adversaries [in gatherings] at the [city’s] gate.

12 Remember [earnestly] also your Creator [that you are not your own, but His property now] in the days of your youth, before the evil days come or the years draw near when you will say [of physical pleasures], I have no enjoyment in them—^(A)

² Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened [sight is impaired], and the clouds [of depression] return after the rain [of tears];

³ In the day when the keepers of the house [the hands and the arms] tremble, and the strong men [the feet and the knees] bow themselves, and the grinders [the molar teeth] cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows [the eyes] are darkened;

⁴ When the doors [the lips] are shut in the streets and the sound of the grinding [of the teeth] is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird and the crowing of a cock, and all the daughters of music [the voice and the ear] are brought low;

⁵ Also when [the old] are afraid of danger from that which is high, and fears are in the way, and the almond tree [their white hair] blooms, and the grasshopper [a little thing] is a burden, and desire and appetite fail, because man goes to his everlasting home and the mourners go about the streets or marketplaces.^(B)

⁶ [Remember your Creator earnestly now] before the silver cord [of life] is snapped apart, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern [and the whole circulatory system of the blood ceases to function];

⁷ Then shall the dust [out of which God made man’s body] return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God Who gave it.

⁸ Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities, says the Preacher. All is futility (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and transitoriness)!

¹³ All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.

¹⁴ For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.^(A)

²² And [Jesus] said to His disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious and troubled [with cares] about your life, as to what you will [have to] eat; or about your body, as to what you will [have to] wear.

²³ For life is more than food, and the body [more] than clothes.

²⁴ Observe and consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn; and [yet] God feeds them. Of how much more worth are you than the birds!

²⁵ And which of you by being overly anxious and troubled with cares can add a ^[a]cubit to his stature or a moment [unit] of time to his ^[b]age [the length of his life]?

²⁶ If then you are not able to do such a little thing as that, why are you anxious and troubled with cares about the rest?

²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither [wearily] toil nor spin nor ^[c]weave; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory (his splendor and magnificence) was not arrayed like one of these.^(A)

²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you [people] of little faith?

²⁹ And you, do not seek [by meditating and reasoning to inquire into] what you are to eat and what you are to drink; nor be of anxious (troubled) mind [^[d]unsettled, excited, worried, and ^[e]in suspense];

³⁰ For all the pagan world is [greedily] seeking these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹ Only aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also.