Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁰ Then God saw their works, that they ^(A)turned from their evil way, so ^(B)God ^[a]relented concerning the evil which He had spoken He would ^[b]bring upon them. And He did not ^[c]bring it upon them.

Jonah’s Anger

4 But this was a great evil to Jonah, and he became ^(C)angry. ² And he ^(D)prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah! O Yahweh, was not this my word to myself while I was still in my own land? Therefore I went ahead to ^(E)flee to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a ^(F)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning evil. ³ So now, O Yahweh, please ^(G)take my ^[d]life from me, for death is ^(H)better to me than life.” ⁴ And Yahweh said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

⁵ Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city. And there he made a booth for himself and ^(I)sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So Yahweh God appointed a ^[e]plant, and it came up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his miserable evil. And Jonah was ^[f]extremely glad about the plant. ⁷ But God appointed a worm at the ^[g]breaking of dawn the next day, and it struck the plant, and ^[h]it ^(J)dried up. ⁸ Then it happened that as the sun rose up, God appointed a scorching ^(K)east wind, and the ^(L)sun struck down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and asked with all his soul to die and said, “^(M)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 Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which ^[i]came to be overnight and perished ^[j]overnight. ¹¹ So should I not ^(N)have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not ^(O)know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many ^[k](P)animals?”

Yahweh’s Greatness Is Unsearchable

A Praise of David.

Aleph

Beth

Gimel

Daleth

He

Vav

Zayin

Heth

To Live Is Christ

²¹ For to me, ^(A)to live is Christ and to die is gain. ^22 [a]But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean ^(B)fruitful labor for me; and I do not know what I will choose. ²³ But I am hard-pressed ^[b]between the two, having the ^(C)desire to depart and ^(D)be with Christ, for that is very much better, ²⁴ yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. ^25 (E)And convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy ^[c]in the faith, ²⁶ so that your reason for ^(F)boasting may abound in Christ Jesus in me, through my coming to you again.

²⁷ Only ^[d]live your lives in a manner ^(G)worthy of the ^(H)gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear about your circumstances, that you are ^(I)standing firm in ^(J)one spirit, with one ^[e]mind ^(K)contending together for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸ in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a ^(L)sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. ²⁹ For to you ^(M)it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to ^(N)suffer for His sake, ³⁰ having the same ^(O)struggle which ^(P)you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For ^(A)the kingdom of heaven is like ^[a]a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his ^(B)vineyard. ² Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a ^[b]denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And he went out about the ^[c]third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace; ⁴ and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the ^[d]sixth and the ninth hour, and did ^[e]the same thing. ⁶ And about the ^[f]eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ ⁷ They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

⁸ “Now when ^(C)evening came, the ^[g]owner of the vineyard *said to his ^[h](D)foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a ^[i]denarius. ¹⁰ And when those hired first came, they supposed that they would receive more; ^[j]but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ Now when they received it, they were grumbling at the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the ^(E)scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘^(F)Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ¹⁵ Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your ^(G)eye ^[k]envious because I am ^[l]generous?’ ¹⁶ So ^(H)the last shall be first, and the first last.”