Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer of Thanks
118 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. 2 Let Israel say, “His loving-kindness lasts forever.”
14 The Lord is my strength and my song. He is the One Who saves me.
15 The joy of being saved is being heard in the tents of those who are right and good. The right hand of the Lord does powerful things. 16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high. The right hand of the Lord does powerful things. 17 I will not die but live. And I will tell of what the Lord has done. 18 The Lord has punished me but He has not given me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of what is right and good. I will go through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord. Those who are right with God will pass through it. 21 I will give thanks to You, for You have answered me. And You are the One Who saves me.
22 The stone that was put aside by the workmen has become the most important stone in the building. 23 The Lord has done this. We think it is great! 24 This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be full of joy and be glad in it.
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God made from nothing the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was an empty waste and darkness was over the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was moving over the top of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good. He divided the light from the darkness. 5 Then God called the light day, and He called the darkness night. There was evening and there was morning, one day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be an open space between the waters. Let it divide waters from waters.” 7 God made the open space, and divided the waters under the open space from the waters above the open space. And it was so. 8 Then God called the open space Heaven. There was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place. Let the dry land be seen.” And it was so. 10 Then God called the dry land Earth. He called the gathering of the waters Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let plants grow from the earth, plants that have seeds. Let fruit trees grow on the earth that bring their kind of fruit with their own seeds.” And it was so. 12 Plants grew out of the earth, giving their own kind of seeds. Trees grew with their fruit, and their kind of seeds. And God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the open space of the heavens to divide day from night. Let them tell the days and years and times of the year. 15 Let them be lights in the open space of the heavens to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 Then God made the two great lights, the brighter light to rule the day, and the smaller light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God put them in the open space of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule the day and the night. He divided the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
The Body That Will Be Raised
35 Someone will say, “How are the dead raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! When you plant a seed, it must die before it starts new life. 37 When you put it in the earth, you are not planting the body which it will become. You put in only a seed. 38 It is God Who gives it a body just as He wants it to have. Each kind of seed becomes a different kind of body.
39 All flesh is not the same. Men have one kind of flesh. Animals have another kind. Fish have another kind, and birds have another kind. 40 There are bodies in the heavens. There are bodies on earth. Their greatness is not the same. 41 The sun has its greatness. The moon has its greatness. Stars have their greatness. One star is different from another star in greatness.
42 It is the same with people who are raised from the dead. The body will turn back to dust when it is put in a grave. When the body is raised from the grave, it will never die. 43 It has no greatness when it is put in a grave, but it is raised with shining-greatness. It is weak when it is put in a grave, but it is raised with power. 44 It is a human body when it dies, but it is a God-like body when it is raised from the dead. There are human bodies and there are God-like bodies. 45 The Holy Writings say, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” But the last Adam (Christ) is a life-giving Spirit.
46 We have these human bodies first. Then we are given God-like bodies that are ready for heaven. 47 Adam was the first man. He was made from the dust of the earth. Christ was the second man. He came down from heaven. 48 All men of the earth are made like Adam. But those who belong to Christ will have a body like the body of Christ Who came from heaven. 49 Now, our bodies are like Adam’s body. But in heaven, our bodies will be like the body of Christ.
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