Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song of David.

1 These are the words from the Teacher, a son of David and king of Jerusalem.

² Everything is so meaningless. The Teacher says that it is all a waste of time!^{[a] 3} Do people really gain anything from all the hard work they do in this life^[b]?

Things Never Change

⁴ People live and people die, but the earth continues forever. ⁵ The sun rises and the sun goes down, and then it hurries to rise again in the same place.

⁶ The wind blows to the south, and the wind blows to the north. The wind blows around and around. Then it turns and blows back to the place it began.

⁷ All rivers flow again and again to the same place. They all flow to the sea, but the sea never becomes full.

⁸ Words cannot fully explain things,^[c] but people continue speaking.^[d] Words come again and again to our ears, but our ears don’t become full. And our eyes don’t become full of what we see.

Nothing Is New

⁹ All things continue the way they have been since the beginning. The same things will be done that have always been done. There is nothing new in this life.

¹⁰ Someone might say, “Look, this is new,” but that thing has always been here. It was here before we were.

¹¹ People don’t remember what happened long ago. In the future, they will not remember what is happening now. And later, other people will not remember what the people before them did.

God’s Power and Wisdom in Christ Jesus

¹⁸ The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ As the Scriptures say,

²⁰ So what does this say about the philosopher, the law expert, or anyone in this world who is skilled in making clever arguments? God has made the wisdom of the world look foolish. ²¹ This is what God in his wisdom decided: Since the world did not find him through its own wisdom, he used the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe it.

²² The Jews ask for miraculous signs, and the Greeks want wisdom. ²³ But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross. This message is a problem for Jews, and to other people it is nonsense. ²⁴ But Christ is God’s power and wisdom to the people God has chosen, both Jews and Greeks. ²⁵ Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. Even the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

²⁶ Brothers and sisters, God chose you to be his. Think about that! Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence, and not many of you came from important families. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ And God chose what the world thinks is not important—what the world hates and thinks is nothing. He chose these to destroy what the world thinks is important. ²⁹ God did this so that no one can stand before him and boast about anything. ³⁰ It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to be in his presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin. ³¹ So, as the Scriptures say, “Whoever boasts should boast only about the Lord.”^[a]