Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Voice of the Lord in the Storm[a]
29 (A)Praise the Lord, you heavenly beings;
praise his glory and power.
2 Praise the Lord's glorious name;
bow down before the Holy One when he appears.[b]
3 The voice of the Lord is heard on the seas;
the glorious God thunders,
and his voice echoes over the ocean.
4 The voice of the Lord is heard
in all its might and majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
even the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes the mountains of Lebanon jump like calves
and makes Mount Hermon leap like a young bull.
7 The voice of the Lord makes the lightning flash.
8 His voice makes the desert shake;
he shakes the desert of Kadesh.
9 The Lord's voice shakes the oaks[c]
and strips the leaves from the trees
while everyone in his Temple shouts, “Glory to God!”
10 The Lord rules over the deep waters;
he rules as king forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people
and blesses them with peace.
2 I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too. 2 I discovered that laughter is foolish, that pleasure does you no good. 3 Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.
4 (A)I accomplished great things. I built myself houses and planted vineyards. 5 I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them; 6 I dug ponds to irrigate them. 7 (B)I bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem. 8 (C)I also piled up silver and gold from the royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the women a man could want.
9 (D)Yes, I was great, greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and my wisdom never failed me. 10 Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward. 11 Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind—of no use at all.
The Message about the Crucified Christ
2 When I came to you, my friends, to preach God's secret truth,[a] I did not use big words and great learning. 2 For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross. 3 (A)So when I came to you, I was weak and trembled all over with fear, 4 and my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit. 5 Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God's power.
God's Wisdom
6 Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world or to the powers that rule this world—powers that are losing their power. 7 The wisdom I proclaim is God's secret wisdom, which is hidden from human beings, but which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made. 8 (B)None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 (C)However, as the scripture says,
“What no one ever saw or heard,
what no one ever thought could happen,
is the very thing God prepared for those who love him.”
10 But[b] it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.