Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Difference between Good and Sinful People

1 Happy is the man who does not walk in the way sinful men tell him to, or stand in the path of sinners, or sit with those who laugh at the truth. ² But he finds joy in the Law of the Lord and thinks about His Law day and night. ³ This man is like a tree planted by rivers of water, which gives its fruit at the right time and its leaf never dries up. Whatever he does will work out well for him.

⁴ Sinful men are not like this. They are like straw blown away by the wind. ⁵ So the sinful will not stand. They will be told they are guilty and have to suffer for it. Sinners will not stand with those who are right with God. ⁶ For the Lord knows the way of those who are right with Him. But the way of the sinful will be lost from God forever.

Life Is of No Worth

1 These are the words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. ² “It is of no use,” says the Preacher. “It is of no use! All is for nothing.”

³ What does a man get for all his work which he does under the sun? ⁴ People die and people are born, but the earth stays forever. ⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets, and travels in a hurry to the place where it rises. ⁶ The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north. It goes around and around, and returns again on its way. ⁷ All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. And they return again to the place from which the rivers flow. ⁸ All things are tiring. Man is not able to tell about them. The eye never has enough to see, and the ear is never filled with what it hears. ⁹ What has been is what will be. And what has been done is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. ¹⁰ Is there anything of which one might say, “See, this is new”? It has already been there since long before us. ¹¹ No one remembers the things that happened before. And no one will remember the things that will happen in the future among those who will come later.

Looking for Wisdom Is like Trying to Catch the Wind

¹² I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ And I set my mind to look for wisdom to learn about all that has been done under heaven. It is a hard work which God has given to the sons of men to be troubled with. ¹⁴ I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun. And see, it is all for nothing. It is like trying to catch the wind. ¹⁵ What is not straight cannot be made straight. What is not there cannot be numbered. ¹⁶ I said to myself, “I have received more wisdom than all who were over Jerusalem before me. My mind has seen much wisdom and much learning.” ¹⁷ And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know what is crazy and foolish. I saw that this also is like trying to catch the wind. ¹⁸ Because in much wisdom there is much trouble. And he who gets much learning gets much sorrow.

²⁹ “It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You make buildings for the graves of the early preachers, and you make the graves beautiful of those who are right with God. ³⁰ You say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our early fathers, we would not have helped kill the early preachers.’ ³¹ In this way, you are showing that you are the sons of those who killed the early preachers. ³² You might as well finish what your early fathers did. ³³ You snakes! You family of snakes! How can you be kept from hell?

³⁴ “Because of this, I am going to keep on sending to you men who speak for God and wise men and teachers of the Law. Some of them you will kill and nail to a cross. Some of them you will beat in your places of worship. You will make it very hard for them as they go from city to city. ³⁵ Because of this, you will be guilty of the blood of all those right with God on the earth. It will be from the blood of Abel who was right with God to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachias. He was the one you killed between the house of God and the altar. ³⁶ For sure, I tell you, all these things will come on the people of this day.

Jesus Sorrows Over Jerusalem

³⁷ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the men who speak for God and throw stones at those who were sent to you. How many times I wanted to gather your children around Me, as a chicken gathers her young ones under her wings. But you would not let Me. ³⁸ See! Your house is empty. ³⁹ I say to you, you will not see Me again until you will say, ‘Great is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!’”