Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
114 The people of Israel came out of Egypt.
The people of Jacob left a land where a different language was spoken.
2 Then Judah became the holy place where God lived.
Israel became the land he ruled over.
3 The Red Sea saw him and parted.
The Jordan River stopped flowing.
4 The mountains leaped like rams.
The hills skipped like lambs.
5 Red Sea, why did you part?
Jordan River, why did you stop flowing?
6 Why did you mountains leap like rams?
Why did you hills skip like lambs?
7 Earth, tremble with fear when the Lord comes.
Tremble when the God of Jacob is near.
8 He turned the rock into a pool.
He turned the hard rock into springs of water.
Jonah Runs Away From the Lord
1 A message from the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai. The Lord said, 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh. Preach against it. The sins of its people have come to my attention.”
3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord. He headed for Tarshish. So he went down to the port of Joppa. There he found a ship that was going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board. Then he sailed for Tarshish. He was running away from the Lord.
4 But the Lord sent a strong wind over the Mediterranean Sea. A wild storm came up. It was so wild that the ship was in danger of breaking apart. 5 All the sailors were afraid. Each one cried out to his own god for help. They threw the ship’s contents into the sea. They were trying to make the ship lighter.
But Jonah had gone below deck. There he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went down to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call out to your god for help! Maybe he’ll pay attention to what’s happening to us. Then we won’t die.”
7 Here is what the sailors said to one another. “Someone is to blame for getting us into all this trouble. Come. Let’s cast lots to find out who it is.” So they did. And Jonah was picked. 8 They asked him, “What terrible thing have you done to bring all this trouble on us? Tell us. What do you do for a living? Where do you come from? What is your country? What people do you belong to?”
9 He answered, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord. He is the God of heaven. He made the sea and the dry land.”
10 They found out he was running away from the Lord. That’s because he had told them. Then they became terrified. So they asked him, “How could you do a thing like that?”
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down?”
12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied. “Then it will become calm. I know it’s my fault that this terrible storm has come on you.”
13 But the men didn’t do what he said. Instead, they did their best to row back to land. But they couldn’t. The sea got even rougher than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord. They prayed, “Please, Lord, don’t let us die for taking this man’s life. After all, he might not be guilty of doing anything wrong. So don’t hold us responsible for killing him. Lord, you always do what you want to.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard. And the stormy sea became calm. 16 The men saw what had happened. Then they began to have great respect for the Lord. They offered a sacrifice to him. And they made promises to him.
Jonah Prays to the Lord
17 Now the Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
19 Do we have hope in Christ only for this life? Then people should pity us more than anyone else.
20 But Christ really has been raised from the dead. He is the first of all those who will rise from the dead. 21 Death came because of what a man did. Rising from the dead also comes because of what a man did. 22 Because of Adam, all people die. So because of Christ, all will be made alive. 23 But here is the order of events. Christ is the first of those who rise from the dead. When he comes back, those who belong to him will be raised. 24 Then the end will come after Christ destroys all rule, authority and power. Then he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father. 25 Christ must rule until he has put all his enemies under his control. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 Scripture says that God “has put everything under his control.” (Psalm 8:6) It says that “everything” has been put under him. But it is clear that this does not include God himself. That’s because God put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done that, the Son also will be under God’s rule. God put everything under the Son. In that way, God will be all in all.
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