Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 29
The Voice of the Lord
A Davidic psalm.
1 Ascribe to Yahweh, you heavenly beings,[a]
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due His name;
worship Yahweh
in the splendor of His holiness.[b](A)
3 The voice of the Lord is above the waters.
The God of glory thunders—
the Lord, above vast waters,(B)
4 the voice of the Lord in power,
the voice of the Lord in splendor.(C)
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.(D)
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,(E)
and Sirion,[c] like a young wild ox.(F)
7 The voice of the Lord flashes flames of fire.(G)
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.(H)
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth[d](I)
and strips the woodlands bare.(J)
In His temple all cry, “Glory!”
Everything is Futile
1 The words of the Teacher,[a](A) son of David, king in Jerusalem.(B)
2 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher.
“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”(C)
3 What does a man gain for all his efforts
that he labors at under the sun?(D)
4 A generation goes and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.(E)
5 The sun rises and the sun sets;
panting, it returns to its place(F)
where it rises.
6 Gusting to the south,
turning to the north,
turning, turning, goes the wind,(G)
and the wind returns in its cycles.
7 All the streams flow to the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
The streams are flowing to the place,
and they flow there again.
8 All things[b] are wearisome;
man is unable to speak.
The eye is not satisfied by seeing(H)
or the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Can one say about anything,
“Look, this is new”?
It has already existed in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of those who[c] came before;(I)
and of those who[d] will come after
there will also be no remembrance
by those who follow them.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.(A) 19 For it is written:
20 Where is the philosopher?[b] Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age?(C) Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. 22 For the Jews ask for signs(D) and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified,(E) a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.[c] 24 Yet to those who are called,(F) both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Boasting Only in the Lord
26 Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective,[d] not many powerful,(G) not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen(H) what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world(I)—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one[e] can boast in His presence.(J) 30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness,(K) sanctification,(L) and redemption,(M) 31 in order that, as it is written:(N) The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.(O)[f]
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