Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A praise song of David.
110 The Lord said to my lord,[a]
“Sit at my right side, while I put your enemies under your control.”
2 The Lord will cause your kingdom to grow, beginning at Zion,
until you rule the lands of your enemies!
3 Your people will gladly join you
when you gather your army together.
You will wear your special clothes
and meet together early in the morning.
Your young men will be all around you
like dew on the ground.[b]
4 The Lord has made a promise with an oath
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever—
the kind of priest Melchizedek was.”
5 My Lord is at your right side.
He will defeat the other kings when he becomes angry.
6 He will judge the nations.
The ground will be covered with dead bodies.
He will punish the leaders of powerful nations all around the world.
7 The king will drink from a stream on the way.
Then he will lift his head and become strong![c]
The Good Woman—Wisdom
20 Listen! Wisdom[a] is shouting in the streets. She is crying out in the marketplace. 21 She is calling out where the noisy crowd gathers:
22 “Fools, how long will you love being ignorant? How long will you make fun of wisdom? How long will you hate knowledge? 23 I wanted to tell you everything I knew and give you all my knowledge, but you didn’t listen to my advice and teaching.
24 “I tried to help, but you refused to listen. I offered my hand, but you turned away from me. 25 You ignored my advice and refused to be corrected. 26 So I will laugh at your troubles and make fun of you when what you fear happens. 27 Disasters will strike you like a storm. Problems will pound you like a strong wind. Trouble and misery will weigh you down.
28 “Fools will call for me, but I will not answer. They will look for me, but they will not find me. 29 That is because they hated knowledge. They refused to fear and respect the Lord. 30 They ignored my advice and refused to be corrected. 31 They filled their lives with what they wanted. They went their own way, so they will get what they deserve.
32 “Fools die because they refuse to follow wisdom. They are content to follow their foolish ways, and that will destroy them. 33 But those who listen to me will live in safety and comfort. They will have nothing to fear.”
Give Yourselves to God
4 Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that make war inside you. 2 You want things, but you don’t get them. So you kill and are jealous of others. But you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You don’t get what you want because you don’t ask God. 3 Or when you ask, you don’t receive anything, because the reason you ask is wrong. You only want to use it for your own pleasure.
4 You people are not faithful to God! You should know that loving what the world has is the same as hating God. So anyone who wants to be friends with this evil world becomes God’s enemy. 5 Do you think the Scriptures mean nothing? The Scriptures say, “The Spirit God made to live in us wants us only for himself.”[a] 6 But the kindness God shows is greater. As the Scripture says, “God is against the proud, but he is kind to the humble.”[b]
7 So give yourselves to God. Stand against the devil, and he will run away from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. You are sinners, so clean sin out of your lives.[c] You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. Make your thinking pure. 9 Be sad, be sorry, and cry! Change your laughter into crying. Change your joy into sadness. 10 Be humble before the Lord, and he will make you great.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International