Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Thanksgiving to God
118 Give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good;
his gracious love is eternal.
2 Let Israel now say,
“His gracious love is eternal.”
14 The Lord is my strength and protector,[a]
for he has become my deliverer.[b]
15 There’s exultation[c] for deliverance in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord is victorious![d]
16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted!
The right hand of the Lord is victorious!”[e]
17 I will not die, but I will live
to recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord will discipline me severely,
but he won’t hand me over to die.
19 Open for me the righteous gates
so I may enter through them to give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate—
The righteous will enter through it.
21 I will praise you because you have answered me
and have become my deliverer.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
23 This is from the Lord—
it is awesome in our sight.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
let’s rejoice and be glad in it.
20 Then God said, “Let the oceans swarm[a] with living creatures, and let flying creatures soar above the earth throughout[b] the sky!” 21 So God created every kind of magnificent marine creature, every kind of living marine crawler[c] with which the waters swarmed, and every kind of flying creature.[d] And God saw how good it was. 22 God blessed them by saying, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the oceans. Let the birds multiply throughout the earth!” 23 The twilight and the dawn were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature, each kind of livestock and crawling thing, and each kind of earth’s animals!”[e] And that is what happened:[f] 25 God made each kind of the earth’s animals, along with every kind of livestock and crawling thing.[g] And God saw how good it was.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, to be like us.[h] Let them be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly,[i] the livestock, everything that crawls on the earth, and over the earth itself!”
27 So God created mankind in his own image;
in his own image God created them;[j]
he created them male and female.
28 God blessed the humans by saying to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it! Be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, and every living thing that crawls on the earth!”
29 God also told them,[k] “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant that grows throughout[l] the earth, along with every tree that grows seed-bearing fruit. They will produce your food. 30 I have given all green plants as food for every wild animal[m] of the earth, every bird that flies, and to every living thing[n] that crawls on the earth.” And that is what happened.[o]
31 Now God saw all that he had made, and indeed, it was very good! The twilight and the dawn were the sixth day.
The Seventh Day
2 With this, the universe[p] was[q] completed, including all of its vast array.[r] 2 By the seventh day, God had completed the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he stopped working on[s] everything that he had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God stopped working on[t] everything that he had been creating.
Humans in the Garden
4 These are the records of the universe at its[u] creation. On the day that the Lord God made the universe,[v]
50 Brothers, this is what I mean: Mortal bodies[a] cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and what decays cannot inherit what does not decay. 51 Let me tell you a secret. Not all of us will die,[b] but all of us will be changed— 52 in a moment, faster than an eye can blink, at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet[c] will sound, and then the dead will be raised never to decay, and we will be changed. 53 For what is decaying must be clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying must be clothed with what cannot die. 54 Now, when what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying is clothed with what cannot die, then the written word will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up by victory!”[d]
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”[e]
56 Now death’s stinger is sin, and sin’s power is the Law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah![f]
58 Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that the work that you do for the Lord isn’t wasted.
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