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.
Friends and Family Give Strength
9 Two people are better than one,
because they get more done by working together.
10 If one falls down,
the other can help him up.
But it is bad for the person who is alone and falls,
because no one is there to help.
11 If two lie down together, they will be warm,
but a person alone will not be warm.
12 An enemy might defeat one person,
but two people together can defend themselves;
a rope that is woven of three strings is hard to break.
Fame and Power Are Useless
13 A poor but wise boy is better than a foolish but old king who doesn’t listen to advice. 14 A boy became king. He had been born poor in the kingdom and had even gone to prison before becoming king. 15 I watched all the people who live on earth follow him and make him their king. 16 Many followed him at first, but later, they did not like him, either. So fame and power are useless, like chasing the wind.
A Warning to the Rich
5 You rich people, listen! Cry and be very sad because of the troubles that are coming to you. 2 Your riches have rotted, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. 3 Your gold and silver have rusted, and that rust will be a proof that you were wrong. It will eat your bodies like fire. You saved your treasure for the last days. 4 The pay you did not give the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the workers have been heard by the Lord All-Powerful. 5 Your life on earth was full of rich living and pleasing yourselves with everything you wanted. You made yourselves fat, like an animal ready to be killed. 6 You have judged guilty and then murdered innocent people, who were not against you.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.