Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears Yahweh

A Song of Ascents.

⁹ Two are better than one because they have good wages for their labor. ¹⁰ For if ^[a]either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not a second one to lift him up. ¹¹ Furthermore, if two lie down together they ^[b]keep warm, but ^(A)how can one be warm alone? ¹² And if ^[c]one can overpower him who is alone, two can stand against him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

¹³ A ^(B)poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive ^[d]warning. ¹⁴ For he has come ^(C)out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom. ¹⁵ I have seen all the living who walk about under the sun go along with the second lad who stands in place of him. ¹⁶ There is no end to all the people, to all who were before them, and even the ones who will come later will not be glad with him, for this too is ^(D)vanity and striving after wind.

Miseries of the Rich

5 ^(A)Come now, ^(B)you rich, ^(C)cry, howling over your miseries which are coming upon you. ^2 (D)Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. You have stored up such treasure ^(E)in the last days! ⁴ Behold, ^(F)the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields—that which has been withheld by you—cries out against you; and ^(G)the outcries of those who did the harvesting have reached the ears of ^(H)the ^[a]Lord of ^[b]Sabaoth. ⁵ You have ^(I)lived luxuriously on the earth and lived in self-indulgence. You have ^[c]fattened your hearts in a ^(J)day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and ^(K)murdered ^(L)the righteous man; ^[d]he does not resist you.