Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Happy Home
A song for going up to worship.
128 Happy are those who respect the Lord and obey him.
2 You will enjoy what you work for,
and you will be blessed with good things.
3 Your wife will give you many children,
like a vine that produces much fruit.
Your children will bring you much good,
like olive branches that produce many olives.
4 This is how the man who respects the Lord
will be blessed.
5 May the Lord bless you from Mount Zion;
may you enjoy the good things of Jerusalem all your life.
6 May you see your grandchildren.
Let there be peace in Israel.
27 Don’t brag about tomorrow;
you don’t know what may happen then.
2 Don’t praise yourself. Let someone else do it.
Let the praise come from a stranger and not from your own mouth.
3 Stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,
but a complaining fool is worse than either.
4 Anger is cruel and destroys like a flood,
but no one can put up with jealousy!
5 It is better to correct someone openly
than to have love and not show it.
6 The slap of a friend can be trusted to help you,
but the kisses of an enemy are nothing but lies.
7 When you are full, not even honey tastes good,
but when you are hungry, even something bitter tastes sweet.
8 A person who leaves his home
is like a bird that leaves its nest.
9 The sweet smell of perfume and oils is pleasant,
and so is good advice from a friend.
10 Don’t forget your friend or your parent’s friend.
Don’t always go to your family for help when trouble comes.
A neighbor close by is better than a family far away.
11 Be wise, my child, and make me happy.
Then I can respond to any insult.
12 The wise see danger ahead and avoid it,
but fools keep going and get into trouble.
13 Take the coat of someone who promises to pay a stranger’s loan,
and keep it until he pays what the stranger owes.
14 If you loudly greet your neighbor early in the morning,
he will think of it as a curse.
15 A quarreling wife is as bothersome
as a continual dripping on a rainy day.
16 Stopping her is like stopping the wind
or trying to grab oil in your hand.
17 As iron sharpens iron,
so people can improve each other.
18 Whoever tends a fig tree gets to eat its fruit,
and whoever takes care of his master will receive honor.
19 As water reflects your face,
so your mind shows what kind of person you are.
20 People will never stop dying and being destroyed,
and they will never stop wanting more than they have.
21 A hot furnace tests silver and gold,
and people are tested by the praise they receive.
22 Even if you ground up a foolish person like grain in a bowl,
you couldn’t remove the foolishness.
23 Be sure you know how your sheep are doing,
and pay attention to the condition of your cattle.
24 Riches will not go on forever,
nor do governments go on forever.
25 Bring in the hay, and let the new grass appear.
Gather the grass from the hills.
26 Make clothes from the lambs’ wool,
and sell some goats to buy a field.
27 There will be plenty of goat’s milk
to feed you and your family
and to make your servant girls healthy.
8 Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You sinners, clean sin out of your lives. You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time, make your thinking pure. 9 Be sad, cry, and weep! Change your laughter into crying and your joy into sadness. 10 Humble yourself in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you.
You Are Not the Judge
11 Brothers and sisters, do not tell evil lies about each other. If you speak against your fellow believers or judge them, you are judging and speaking against the law they follow. And when you are judging the law, you are no longer a follower of the law. You have become a judge. 12 God is the only Lawmaker and Judge. He is the only One who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge your neighbor.
Let God Plan Your Life
13 Some of you say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” 14 But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. 15 So you should say, “If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But now you are proud and you brag. All of this bragging is wrong. 17 Anyone who knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, is sinning.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.