Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Value of Wisdom

¹² Wisdom shines bright and never grows dim; those who love her and look for her can easily find her. ¹³ She is quick to make herself known to anyone who desires her. ¹⁴ Get up early in the morning to find her, and you will have no problem; you will find her sitting at your door. ¹⁵ To fasten your attention on Wisdom is to gain perfect understanding. If you look for her, you will soon find peace of mind, ¹⁶ because she will be looking for those who are worthy of her, and she will find you wherever you are. She is kind and will be with you in your every thought.

¹⁸ How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the Lord! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light. ¹⁹ It will be like someone who runs from a lion and meets a bear! Or like someone who comes home and puts his hand on the wall—only to be bitten by a snake! ²⁰ The day of the Lord will bring darkness and not light; it will be a day of gloom, without any brightness.

^21 (A)The Lord says, “I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them! ²² When you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not accept the animals you have fattened to bring me as offerings. ²³ Stop your noisy songs; I do not want to listen to your harps. ²⁴ Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.

¹⁷ Wisdom begins when you sincerely want to learn. To desire Wisdom is to love her; ¹⁸ to love her is to keep her laws; to keep her laws is to be certain of immortality; ¹⁹ immortality will bring you close to God. ²⁰ This desire for Wisdom can prepare you to rule a kingdom.

A Prayer for Help^{[a] (A)}

The Lord's Coming

¹³ Our friends, we want you to know the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are those who have no hope. ¹⁴ We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in him.

^15 (A)What we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died. ^16 (B)There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice, the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first; ¹⁷ then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ So then, encourage one another with these words.

The Parable of the Ten Young Women

25 ^(A)“At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there were ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and the other five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any extra oil with them, ⁴ while the wise ones took containers full of oil for their lamps. ⁵ The bridegroom was late in coming, so they began to nod and fall asleep.

⁶ “It was already midnight when the cry rang out, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come and meet him!’ ⁷ The ten young women woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ Then the foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Let us have some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ ‘No, indeed,’ the wise ones answered, ‘there is not enough for you and for us. Go to the store and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ So the foolish ones went off to buy some oil; and while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived. The five who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was closed.

^11 (B)“Later the others arrived. ‘Sir, sir! Let us in!’ they cried out. ¹² ‘Certainly not! I don't know you,’ the bridegroom answered.”

¹³ And Jesus concluded, “Watch out, then, because you do not know the day or the hour.