Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for Protection from the Wicked.

For the music director; for ^[a]flute accompaniment. A Psalm of David.

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became ^(A)angry. ² Then he ^(B)prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was this not ^[a]what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore in anticipation of this I ^(C)fled to Tarshish, since I knew that You are a ^(D)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and One who relents of disaster. ³ So now, Lord, please ^(E)take my ^[b]life from me, for death is ^(F)better to me than life.” ⁴ But the Lord said, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?”

⁵ Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of ^[c]it. There he made a shelter for himself and ^(G)sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So the Lord God designated a ^[d]plant, and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to ^[e]relieve him of his discomfort. And Jonah ^[f]was overjoyed about the plant. ⁷ But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it ^(H)withered. ⁸ And when the sun came up God designated a scorching ^(I)east wind, and the ^(J)sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint, and he begged with all his soul to die, saying, “^(K)Death is better to me than life!”

⁹ But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to the point of 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 ^[g]came up overnight and perished ^[h]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not also ^(L)have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not ^(M)know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many ^(N)animals?”

²⁶ But ^(A)an angel of the Lord spoke to ^(B)Philip, saying, “Get ready and go ^[a]south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ^(C)Gaza.” (^[b]This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he got ready and went; and ^[c](D)there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of ^[d]Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he ^(E)had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was returning and sitting in his ^[e]chariot, and was reading Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ Then ^(F)the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this ^[f]chariot.” ³⁰ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip ^(I)opened his mouth, and ^(J)beginning from this Scripture he ^(K)preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! ^(L)What prevents me from being baptized?”^{[i] 38} And he ordered that the ^[j]chariot stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, ^(M)the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, ^[k]but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip ^[l]found himself at ^[m](N)Azotus, and as he passed through he ^(O)kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to ^(P)Caesarea.