Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
This is a song that David wrote.
The storm[a]
29 All you angels in heaven,
say how great the Lord is!
Say that the Lord rules with power!
2 Say that the Lord's name is great!
Worship the Lord for who he is,
and remember that he is holy.
3 The voice of the Lord shouts over the water.
The God of glory makes the noise of thunder.
The Lord appears over the great sea.[b]
4 The Lord's voice is powerful.
It has the authority of a king!
5 When the Lord shouts,
even the cedar trees break!
Yes! The Lord breaks the great cedar trees of Lebanon.[c]
6 He makes Lebanon jump like a calf.
He causes Hermon mountain to shake
like a young bull jumps.
7 The Lord's voice makes fire
like lightning in the sky.
8 When the Lord shouts,
the desert shakes!
He makes the Kadesh desert shake!
9 When the Lord shouts,
the big oak trees bend over.
The leaves fall off all the trees in the forests.
But in his temple,
everyone says, ‘He is great!’
10 The Lord rules as king over the deep waters.[d]
The Lord will be king for ever.
11 The Lord makes his people strong.
The Lord blesses his people with peace.
Pleasure has no purpose
2 I said to myself, ‘I will enjoy the good things of life. I will see if that helps me to be happy.’ But I realized that this too had no purpose. 2 I said, ‘It is foolish to laugh all the time. If I only try to please myself, it does not really help me.’
3 I thought about wine. If I drink a lot of wine, I thought that might make me happy. I might enjoy foolish things. I used wisdom to think about this. People only live for a short time on the earth. I thought this might be the best way for people to enjoy life.
4 I also did a lot of great things for myself. I built houses. I planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and fields of trees. I planted many different kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made large pools of water. I used the water to help my trees to grow well. 7 I bought male slaves and female slaves. Their children became my slaves too. I had many animals, including sheep, goats and cows. I had more animals than any of the rulers in Jerusalem who lived before me. 8 I stored a lot of silver and gold for myself. Other kings and rulers paid me with many valuable things. I had men and women who would sing for me. I had many beautiful slave wives to give me as much pleasure as any man could want. 9 As a result, I was greater than anyone who had ever lived in Jerusalem before me. And I continued to follow the way of wisdom.
10 If I saw something that I wanted
I took it for myself.
If something would give me pleasure,
I did it.
So all my work made me very happy.
My hard work gave me things to enjoy.
11 Then I thought about everything that I had done,
and all my hard work.
After all that, I realized that none of these things had a purpose.
I was like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
None of the things on earth have any value.
How Paul taught God's message
2 Christian friends, I came to tell you God's true message. I did not use clever words when I spoke to you. I did not try to make you think that I was very wise. 2 While I was with you, I decided to teach you only about Jesus Christ. I taught you about his death on a cross. I wanted to forget everything else.
3 I lived among you as someone who felt weak. I was very afraid. 4 When I spoke to you and when I taught you God's message, I did not use clever words. I did not want you to believe me because you thought I was wise. Instead, it was the power of God's Holy Spirit that showed you that my message was true. 5 As a result, you now believe because of God's power. You do not believe because of human ideas.
6 But we do speak about wise thoughts to those of you who know Christ very well. But those wise thoughts do not belong to this world. They are not the ideas that the rulers of this world think are important. Those rulers will not be powerful for long. 7 No, the wise thoughts that we speak about belong to God. He has hidden them from people until now. But before God made the world, he decided to let us know these secrets. He wanted us to enjoy his glory. 8 None of the rulers of this world understood God's wise plan. If they had understood, they would not have killed Jesus on a cross. He is the Lord who rules heaven and earth. 9 This is written in the Bible:
‘Nobody ever saw or heard anything about this.
Nobody ever thought that it could happen.
But these are the things that God has prepared for his people who love him.’[a]
10 But God has sent his Spirit to show these secrets to us. God's Spirit looks carefully into everything. He even knows God's secret thoughts.
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