Book of Common Prayer

The Lord Praised for Giving Deliverance.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, ^[a]who spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,

Nineveh Repents

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(A)Nineveh the great city and ^(B)proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was ^[a]an ^(C)exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. ⁴ Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he ^(D)cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵ Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a ^(E)fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. ⁶ When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, ^(F)covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ^[b]ashes. ⁷ He issued a ^(G)proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. ⁸ But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let ^[c]men ^(H)call on God earnestly that each may ^(I)turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in ^[d]his hands. ^9 (J)Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw their deeds, that they ^(K)turned from their wicked way, then ^(L)God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would ^[e]bring upon them. And He did not do it.

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became ^(M)angry. ² He ^(N)prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this ^[f]what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore ^[g]in order to forestall this I ^(O)fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a ^(P)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please ^(Q)take my ^[h]life from me, for death is ^(R)better to me than life.” ⁴ The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

⁵ Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of ^[i]it. There he made a shelter for himself and ^(S)sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So the Lord God appointed a ^[j]plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was ^[k]extremely happy about the ^[l]plant. ⁷ But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it ^(T)withered. ⁸ When the sun came up God appointed a scorching ^(U)east wind, and the ^(V)sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “^(W)Death is better to me than life.”

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which ^[m]came up overnight and perished ^[n]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not ^(X)have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not ^(Y)know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many ^(Z)animals?”

²⁷ But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to surmise that ^[a]they were approaching some land. ²⁸ They took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ Fearing that we might ^(A)run aground somewhere on the ^[b]rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and ^[c]wished for daybreak. ³⁰ But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down ^(B)the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ^(C)ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

³³ Until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation, for ^(D)not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” ³⁵ Having said this, he took bread and ^(E)gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ All ^(F)of them ^[d]were encouraged and they themselves also took food. ³⁷ All of us in the ship were two hundred and seventy-six ^[e](G)persons. ³⁸ When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by ^(H)throwing out the wheat into the sea.

³⁹ When day came, ^(I)they ^[f]could not recognize the land; but they did observe a bay with a beach, and they resolved to drive the ship onto it if they could. ⁴⁰ And casting off ^(J)the anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and hoisting the foresail to the wind, they were heading for the beach. ⁴¹ But striking a ^[g]reef where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves. ⁴² The soldiers’ plan was to ^(K)kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape; ⁴³ but the centurion, ^(L)wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention, and commanded that those who could swim should ^[h]jump overboard first and get to land, ⁴⁴ and the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that ^(M)they all were brought safely to land.

^18 (A)And it happened that while He was ^(B)praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the ^[a]people say that I am?” ¹⁹ They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” ²⁰ And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “^(C)The ^[b]Christ of God.” ²¹ But He ^[c](D)warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, ^22 (E)saying, “^(F)The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”

²³ And He was saying to them all, “^(G)If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. ²⁴ For ^(H)whoever wishes to save his ^[d]life will lose it, but whoever loses his ^[e]life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. ²⁵ For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and ^(I)loses or forfeits himself? ^26 (J)For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷ But I say to you truthfully, ^(K)there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”