Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁵ Why should I be afraid of bad days?
    Why should I fear when evil people surround me?
⁶ They trust in their money
    and brag about their riches.
⁷ No one can buy back the life of another.
    No one can pay God for his own life,
⁸ because the price of a life is high.
    No payment is ever enough.
⁹ Do people live forever?
    Don’t they all face death?

¹⁰ See, even wise people die.
    Fools and stupid people also die
    and leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their graves will always be their homes.
    They will live there from now on,
    even though they named places after themselves.
¹² Even rich people do not live forever;
    like the animals, people die.

23 If you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    notice the food that is in front of you.
² Control yourself
    if you have a big appetite.
³ Don’t be greedy for his fine foods,
    because that food might be a trick.

⁴ Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;
    be wise enough to control yourself.
⁵ Wealth can vanish in the wink of an eye.
    It can seem to grow wings
    and fly away like an eagle.

⁶ Don’t eat the food of selfish people;
    don’t be greedy for their fine foods.
⁷ Selfish people are always worrying
    about how much the food costs.
They tell you, “Eat and drink,”
    but they don’t really mean it.
⁸ You will throw up the little you have eaten,
    and you will have wasted your kind words.

⁹ Don’t speak to fools;
    they will only ignore your wise words.

¹⁰ Don’t move an old stone that marks a border,
    and don’t take fields that belong to orphans.
¹¹ God, their defender, is strong;
    he will take their side against you.

“Who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been able to give him advice?” Isaiah 40:13
³⁵ “No one has ever given God anything
    that he must pay back.” Job 41:11