Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,
the people he has chosen for his inheritance.
13 From heaven Yahweh looks;
he sees all the children of humankind.
14 From his dwelling place[a] he gazes
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions altogether their heart,
he who understands all their works.
16 The king is not saved by the greatness of an army.
The warrior is not delivered by the greatness of strength.
17 The horse is a false hope for victory,
nor can it save by the greatness of its power.
18 Behold, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear him,
on those who hope[b] for his loyal love
19 to deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for Yahweh;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For in him our heart rejoices
because in his holy name we trust.
22 Let your loyal love, O Yahweh, be upon us,
even as[c] we hope in you.
Those Who Have Wealth but Do Not Enjoy It Are Pitiful
6 Here is another misfortune that I have seen under the sun, and it is prevalent among humankind. 2 God gives a man wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; yet God does not enable him to enjoy it—instead someone else ends up enjoying it. This is vanity—indeed, it is a grievous ill!
3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart[a] is not satisfied with his prosperity[b] and he does not receive a proper burial,[c] I deem the stillborn better than him. 4 For he comes into vanity and departs into darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness. 5 He has neither seen nor known the sun, yet he has more rest than him. 6 Even if a man[d] lives a thousand years twice, if he[e] does not enjoy prosperity,[f] both suffer the same fate![g]
Stephen’s Defense
7 And the high priest said, “Is it so concerning these things?” 2 So he said, “Men—brothers and fathers—listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he[a] was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your relatives and come to the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and[b] settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he caused him to move to this land in which you now live. 5 And he did not give him an inheritance in it—not even a footstep[c]—and he promised to give it[d] to him for his possession, and to his descendants after him, although he did not have[e][f] a child. 6 But God spoke like this: ‘His descendants will be foreigners in a foreign land, and they will enslave them and mistreat them[g] four hundred years, 7 and the nation that[h] they will serve as slaves, I will judge,’ God said, ‘and after these things they will come out[i] and will worship me in this place.’[j] 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac did so with[k] Jacob, and Jacob did so with[l] the twelve patriarchs.
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