Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 118^[a]

Thanksgiving for Salvation

²⁰ God said, “Let the waters be filled with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth in the firmament of the heavens.” ²¹ God created the great sea creatures and all the other creatures that fill the waters, each according to its kind, and all the birds that fly in the sky, each according to its kind. ²² God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds multiply upon the earth.” ²³ And this was the evening and the morning of the fifth day.

²⁴ God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures each according to its kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the savage beasts according to their kind and the cattle according to their kind and all of the reptiles according to their kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ And God said, “Let us^[a] make man in our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the wild animals and reptiles that crawl upon the earth.”

²⁷ God created mankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth; subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the seas and over the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.”

²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I give you every plant that produces seeds upon the earth and every tree that has fruit with its seed inside of it: these shall be your food. ³⁰ And I give all green plants to every wild animal and to all the birds of the air and to all creatures that move upon the surface of the earth and that have the breath of life in them.” And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. This was the evening and the morning of the sixth day.

Chapter 2

¹ This is how the heavens and the earth and everything in them were made.

^2 [b]God completed his work on the seventh day and on the seventh day he rested from all of his work. ³ God blessed the seventh day and he consecrated it, for on it he rested from all the work he had done when he created all things.

⁴ This was the origin of the heavens and the earth when they were first created.

Origin of Human Beings.^[c] When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

⁵⁰ Where, O Death, Is Your Victory?^[a] What I am asserting, brethren, is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can the perishable inherit what is imperishable.

⁵¹ Listen while I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed ⁵² in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.^{[b] 53} For this perishable body must be clothed with the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

⁵⁴ When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then will the words that are written be fulfilled:

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, stand firm and immovable, devoting yourselves completely to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.