Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Brought Israel from Egypt
114 The Israelites went out of Egypt.
The people of Jacob left that foreign country.
2 Then Judah became God’s holy place.
Israel became the land he ruled.
3 The Red Sea looked and ran away.
The Jordan River turned back.
4 The mountains danced like sheep
and the hills like little lambs.
5 Sea, why did you run away?
Jordan, why did you turn back?
6 Mountains, why did you dance like sheep?
Hills, why did you dance like little lambs?
7 Earth, shake with fear before the Lord.
Tremble in the presence of the God of Jacob.
8 He turned a rock into a pool of water.
He changed a hard rock into a spring of water.
God Calls and Jonah Runs
1 The Lord spoke his word to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. I see the evil things they do.”
3 But Jonah got up to run away from the Lord. He went to the city of Joppa. There he found a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish. Jonah paid for the trip and went aboard. He wanted to go to Tarshish to run away from the Lord.
4 But the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. This wind made the sea very rough. So the ship was in danger of breaking apart. 5 The sailors were afraid. Each man cried to his own god. The men began throwing the cargo into the sea. This would make the ship lighter so it would not sink.
But Jonah had gone down into the ship to lie down. He fell fast asleep. 6 The captain of the ship came and said, “Why are you sleeping? Get up! Pray to your god! Maybe your god will pay attention to us. Maybe he will save us!”
7 Then the men said to each other, “Let’s throw lots to see who caused these troubles to happen to us.”
So the men threw lots. The lot showed that the trouble had happened because of Jonah. 8 Then the men said to Jonah, “Tell us what you have done. Why has this terrible thing happened to us? What is your job? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?”
9 Then Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. He is the God who made the sea and the land.”
10 Then the men were very afraid. They asked Jonah, “What terrible thing did you do?” They knew Jonah was running away from the Lord because Jonah had told them.
11 The wind and the waves of the sea were becoming much stronger. So the men said to Jonah, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down?”
12 Jonah said to them, “Pick me up, and throw me into the sea. Then it will calm down. I know it is my fault that this great storm has come on you.”
13 Instead, the men tried to row the ship back to the land. But they could not. The wind and the waves of the sea were becoming much stronger.
Jonah’s Punishment
14 So the men cried to the Lord, “Lord, please don’t let us die because of taking this man’s life. Please don’t think we are guilty of killing an innocent man. Lord, you have caused all this to happen. You wanted it this way.” 15 Then the men picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea. So the sea became calm. 16 Then they began to fear the Lord very much. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord. They also made promises to him.
17 And the Lord caused a very big fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
19 If our hope in Christ is for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone else in the world.
20 But Christ has truly been raised from death—the first one and proof that those who are asleep in death will also be raised. 21 Death comes to everyone because of what one man did. But the rising from death also happens because of one man. 22 In Adam all of us die. In the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again. 23 But everyone will be raised to life in the right order. Christ was first to be raised. When Christ comes again, those who belong to him will be raised to life. 24 Then the end will come. Christ will destroy all rulers, authorities, and powers. And he will give the kingdom to God the Father. 25 Christ must rule until God puts all enemies under Christ’s control. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed will be death. 27 The Scripture says, “God put all things under his control.”[a] When it says that “all things” are put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself. God is the one putting everything under Christ’s control. 28 After everything has been put under Christ, then the Son himself will be put under God. God is the One who put all things under Christ. And Christ will be put under God, so that God will be the complete ruler over everything.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.