Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God Takes Israel from Egypt

114 Israel came out of Egypt. The house of Jacob came from a people who spoke a strange language. ² Then Judah became His holy place, and Israel became the place of His rule.

³ The sea looked and ran away. The Jordan turned back. ⁴ The mountains jumped like sheep, the hills like lambs. ⁵ Why did you try to get away, O sea? Why did you turn back, O Jordan? ⁶ O mountains, why did you jump like sheep? O hills, why did you jump like lambs?

⁷ Shake in fear before the Lord, O earth, before the God of Jacob. ⁸ He changed the rock into a pool of water. He made water flow out of hard rock.

Jonah’s Prayer

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God while in the stomach of the fish, ² saying, “I called out to the Lord because of my trouble, and He answered me. I cried for help from the place of the dead, and You heard my voice. ³ You threw me into the deep waters, to the very bottom of the sea. A flood was all around me and all Your waves passed over me. ⁴ Then I said, ‘I have been sent away from Your eyes. But I will look again toward Your holy house.’ ⁵ Waters closed in over me. The sea was all around me. Weeds were around my head. ⁶ I went down to the roots of the mountains. The walls of the earth were around me forever. But You have brought me up from the grave, O Lord my God. ⁷ While I was losing all my strength, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came to You, into Your holy house. ⁸ Those who worship false gods have given up their faith in You. ⁹ But I will give gifts in worship to You with a thankful voice. I will give You what I have promised. The Lord is the One Who saves.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spit Jonah out onto the dry land.

Jesus Tells about Jonah ^(A)

³⁸ Then some of the teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers said to Jesus, “Teacher, we would like to have you do something special for us to see.” ³⁹ He said to them, “The sinful people of this day look for something special to see. There will be nothing special to see but the powerful works of the early preacher Jonah. ⁴⁰ Jonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of a big fish. The Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the grave also. ⁴¹ The men of the city of Nineveh will stand up with the people of this day on the day men stand before God. Those men will say these people are guilty because the men of Nineveh were sorry for their sins and turned from them when Jonah preached. And see, Someone greater than Jonah is here!

⁴² “The queen of the south will stand up with the people of this day on the day men stand before God. She will say that these people are guilty because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wise sayings of Solomon. And see, Someone greater than Solomon is here!