Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. A psalm of Solomon.
127 If the Lord doesn’t build a house,
the work of the builders is useless.
If the Lord doesn’t watch over a city,
it’s useless for those on guard duty to stand watch over it.
2 It’s useless for you to work from early morning
until late at night
just to get food to eat.
God provides for those he loves even while they sleep.
3 Children are a gift from the Lord.
They are a reward from him.
4 Children who are born to people when they are young
are like arrows in the hands of a soldier.
5 Blessed are those
who have many children.
They won’t be put to shame
when they go up against their enemies in court.
16 Here’s something else I saw on earth.
Where people should be treated right,
they are treated wrong.
Where people should be treated fairly,
they are treated unfairly.
17 I said to myself,
“God will judge
godly and sinful people alike.
He has a time for every act.
He has a time to judge everything that is done.”
18 I also said to myself, “God tests human beings. He does this so they can see that in certain ways they are like animals. 19 Surely what happens to animals happens to people too. Death waits for people and animals alike. People die, just as animals do. All of them have the same breath. People don’t have any advantage over animals. Nothing has any meaning. 20 People and animals go to the same place. All of them come from dust. And all of them return to dust. 21 Who can know whether the spirit of a person goes up? Who can tell whether the spirit of an animal goes down into the earth?”
22 So a person should enjoy their work. That’s what God made them for. I saw that there’s nothing better for them to do than that. After all, who can show them what will happen after they are gone?
Suffering, Hard Work and No Friends
4 I looked and saw how much people were suffering on this earth.
I saw the tears of those who are suffering.
They don’t have anyone to comfort them.
Power is on the side of those who treat them badly.
Those who are suffering don’t have anyone to comfort them.
2 Then I announced that those
who have already died
are happier than those
who are still alive.
3 But someone who hasn’t been born yet
is better off than the dead or the living.
That’s because that person hasn’t seen the evil things
that are done on earth.
4 I also saw that a person works hard and accomplishes a lot. But they do it only because they want what another person has. That doesn’t have any meaning either. It’s like chasing the wind.
5 Foolish people fold their hands and don’t work.
And that destroys them.
6 One handful with peace and quiet
is better than two handfuls with hard work.
Working too hard is like chasing the wind.
7 Again I saw something on earth that didn’t mean anything.
8 A man lived all by himself.
He didn’t have any sons or brothers.
His hard work never ended.
But he wasn’t happy with what he had.
“Who am I working so hard for?” he asked.
“Why don’t I get the things I enjoy?”
That doesn’t have any meaning either.
In fact, it’s a very bad deal!
More Teachings
2 Give a lot of time and effort to prayer. Always be watchful and thankful. 3 Pray for us too. Pray that God will give us an opportunity to preach our message. Then we can preach the mystery of Christ. Because I preached it, I am being held by chains. 4 Pray that I will preach it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let the words you speak always be full of grace. Learn how to make your words what people want to hear. Then you will know how to answer everyone.
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