Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

1 I am Paul. God called me to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He did this because he wanted to.

² Our Christian brother Sosthenes and I send greetings to the people who are the church of God in the city of Corinth. You are people whom Christ Jesus has made holy. You, too, are chosen to be God's people. And we send greetings to all the people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is their Lord, just as he is our Lord.

³ May God show you his kindness and peace which come from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I am always thanking God for the blessings he has given you through Jesus Christ.

⁵ He has made you rich in all ways, in all that you say and in all you know.

⁶ Christ has done for you just what he promised to do.

⁷ You have every blessing you need while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again.

⁸ And right to the end Jesus Christ will surely keep you safe. Then no one will find anything wrong about you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes.

⁹ God never fails anyone. It is he who called you to belong to his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming to him. `Look,' said John. `See God's special Lamb! He takes away the wrong ways of the world.

³⁰ Here is the man I told you about. I said that the one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he lived before I lived.

³¹ I myself did not know who he was. But I came and baptized people in water so that the people of Israel would know who he was.'

³² John also said, `I saw the Spirit coming from the sky. He came down on him like a dove. It stayed on him.

³³ I myself did not know who he was. But he who sent me to baptize people in water told me. He said, "You will see the Spirit coming from the sky on a man. That man will baptize people in the Holy Spirit."

³⁴ I saw the Spirit coming on him, and I have told you. This man is the Son of God.'

³⁵ The next day, John was standing with two of his followers.

³⁶ Jesus walked by. When John saw him, he said, `Look, see God's Lamb!'

³⁷ The two followers heard what John said, so they went after Jesus.

³⁸ Jesus turned. He saw them coming after him. He said to them, `What are you looking for?' They said, `Teacher, where do you live?'

³⁹ Jesus said, `Come and see.' They went and saw the place where Jesus was staying. The time was about four o'clock in the afternoon. They stayed with Jesus the rest of the day.

⁴⁰ Andrew was one of those two followers of John who heard John speak and went after Jesus. He was Simon Peter's brother.

⁴¹ The first thing Andrew did then was to find his brother Simon. He said, `We have found the Messiah!' (Messiah means the Christ, the messenger of God.)

⁴² Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, `You are Simon, the son of John. Your name will be Cephas.' (Cephas means Peter, a rock or stone.)