Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Hallelujah, God does great things[a]
114 God led Israel's people out of Egypt.
Jacob's descendants left that foreign land.
2 Then Judah became God's special place for his people.
There he ruled over Israel's people.
3 The sea looked and ran away!
Then the Jordan River turned back![b]
4 The mountains shook,
like sheep that are jumping.
The hills jumped like lambs.[c]
5 Tell me, sea, why did you run away?
Tell me, Jordan River, why did you turn back?
6 And you mountains and hills,
why did you jump like sheep?
7 Earth, you should shake with fear!
The Lord, Jacob's God, has come to you,
so be afraid!
8 He changes a rock into a pool of water!
Water pours out of a hard rock![d]
Jonah's prayer
2 From inside the fish's stomach, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.
2 He said,
‘When I was in trouble, I called out to the Lord,
and he answered my prayer.
Yes, I called out to you for help from the deep hole of death,
and you heard my prayer.[a]
3 You threw me into the deep water,
and I fell into the middle of the sea.
The deep water covered me.
You sent big waves to roll over me.
4 I said to myself,
“You have sent me far away from you.
Now I will never see your holy temple again.”[b]
5 The deep water of the sea covered me,
so that my life was in danger.
The plants in the sea were all around my head.
6 I went very deep in the water,
as far as the bottom of the mountains.
Deep in the earth, I was in a prison,
and its gates had shut for ever.
But, Lord, my God,
you brought me up from that deep hole.
7 When my life was nearly gone, I prayed to you, Lord.
In your holy temple, you heard my prayer for help.
8 Idols cannot help.
People who worship them have turned away from a faithful God.
9 But as for me, I will sing to thank you.
I will offer a sacrifice to you.
I will do everything that I have promised to do.
The Lord is the one who saves people!’
10 Then the Lord told the great fish to spit Jonah out from its stomach. So it dropped Jonah onto the shore.
The Pharisees want to see Jesus do something powerful
38 Then some teachers of God's Law and some Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we want to see you do something powerful. This will show us that God has really sent you.’
39 Jesus replied, ‘The people who are alive today are very bad. They do not obey God, but they want God to show them something powerful. But God will not do this for them. They will only see the same powerful thing that God did for his prophet Jonah. 40 Jonah stayed inside a big fish for three days and three nights.[a] In the same way, the Son of Man will remain in the ground for three days and three nights. 41 When God judges everyone, the people who lived in Nineveh will be there. They will stand up and they will speak against you. They will show that the people who are alive today are bad. When Jonah spoke to the people in Nineveh long ago, they stopped doing bad things. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Jonah was.
42 Also, the Queen of Sheba travelled a long way to meet King Solomon. She wanted to hear his wise words. When God judges everyone, she will stand up. She will speak against you who are alive today. She will show that you are bad people. She listened to King Solomon. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Solomon was. But you are not listening to me.’[b]
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