¹³ So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy^(A) both them and the earth.^{(B) 14} So make yourself an ark of cypress^[a] wood;^(C) make rooms in it and coat it with pitch^(D) inside and out.

¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.^(A)

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord^(A) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean^(B) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings^(C) on it. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma^(D) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground^(E) because of humans, even though^[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.^(F) And never again will I destroy^(G) all living creatures,^(H) as I have done.

⁴ Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: ⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted^(A) and mourned in the fifth and seventh^(B) months for the past seventy years,^(C) was it really for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?^{(D) 7} Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets^(E) when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest^(F) and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills^(G) were settled?’”^(H)

Psalm 24

Of David. A psalm.

⁷ Who serves as a soldier^(A) at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard^(B) and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? ⁸ Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”^[a](C) Is it about oxen that God is concerned?^{(D) 10} Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us,^(E) because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.^{(F) 11} If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?^{(G) 12} If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?

But we did not use this right.^(H) On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder^(I) the gospel of Christ.

Faith in Action

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for^(A) and assurance about what we do not see.^(B)

⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen,^(A) in holy fear built an ark^(B) to save his family.^(C) By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.^(D)

³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred,^(A) sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”^(B)

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven^(C) has been given to you,^(D) but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.^{(E) 13} This is why I speak to them in parables:

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled^(G) the prophecy of Isaiah:

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.^(I)