Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for Protection from the Wicked.

For the choir 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 He ^(B)prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this ^[a]what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore ^[b]in order to forestall this I ^(C)fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a ^(D)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please ^(E)take my ^[c]life from me, for death is ^(F)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 ^[d]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 appointed a ^[e]plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was ^[f]extremely happy about the ^[g]plant. ⁷ But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it ^(H)withered. ⁸ When the sun came up God appointed a scorching ^(I)east wind, and the ^(J)sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “^(K)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 ^[h]came up overnight and perished ^[i]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not ^(L)have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not ^(M)know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many ^(N)animals?”

²⁶ But ^(A)an angel of the Lord spoke to ^(B)Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to ^(C)Gaza.” (^[a]This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went; and ^(D)there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of 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 ^[b]chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then ^(F)the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this ^[c]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?” ³⁷ [^[f]And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] ³⁸ And he ordered the ^[g]chariot to 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, ^[h]but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip ^[i]found himself at ^[j](N)Azotus, and as he passed through he ^(O)kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to ^(P)Caesarea.