Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 29

The God of Glory Thunders

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A psalm by David.

The God of Glory Thunders

The Heading

1 The words of Ecclesiastes,^[a] David’s son, king in Jerusalem.

The Problem

² “Nothing but vapor,”^[b] Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.”

³ What does anyone gain by all his hard work, at which he works hard under the sun? ⁴ A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth keeps standing forever. ⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets. It hurries back, panting and out of breath, to its starting point, where it rises again. ⁶ The wind goes round and round. Blowing south, then blowing north, the wind keeps going around in circles. ⁷ All streams keep flowing to the sea, but the sea is never full. The streams keep coming back to the same place, and then they flow out again.

⁸ Everything is tedious and tiresome, more than one can tell. No eye ever sees enough, and no ear ever gets its fill of hearing.

⁹ Whatever has been is what will be again, and whatever has already been done is what will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun. ¹⁰ Is there a single thing about which one can say, “Look, this is new”? It was already here ages ago, long before us. ¹¹ No one remembers the people who^[c] came before us, and as for those who are coming—after they are gone, no one will remember them either.

God’s Way of Saving People Seems Foolish to Some

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. ¹⁹ In fact, it is written:

²⁰ Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Jewish law? Where is the probing thinker of the present age? Has God not shown that the wisdom of this world^[b] is foolish? ²¹ Indeed, since the world through its wisdom did not know God, God in his wisdom decided to save those who believe, through the foolishness of the preached message. ²² Yes, Jews ask for signs, Greeks desire wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified—which is offensive to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ We preach Christ crucified, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For example, consider your call, brothers. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view, not many were powerful, and not many were born with high status. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are strong, ²⁸ and God chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things, and^[c] the things that are not, to do away with the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before God. ³⁰ But because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom from God, namely, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. ³¹ God did this so that, just as it is written, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”^[d]