The Ark Prepared^(A)

¹³ And God said to Noah, ^(B)“The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; ^(C)and behold, ^(D)I will destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make ^[a]rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.

¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring ^(A)two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

God’s Covenant with Creation

²⁰ Then Noah built an ^(A)altar to the Lord, and took of ^(B)every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered ^(C)burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ And the Lord smelled ^(D)a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again ^(E)curse the ground for man’s sake, although the ^(F)imagination^[a] of man’s heart is evil from his youth; ^(G)nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

⁴ Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ⁵ “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you ^(A)fasted and mourned in the fifth ^(B)and seventh months ^(C)during those seventy years, did you really fast ^(D)for Me—for Me? ^6 (E)When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? ⁷ Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the ^(F)former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and ^(G)the ^[a]South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ”

The King of Glory and His Kingdom

A Psalm of David.

⁷ Who ever ^(A)goes to war at his own expense? Who ^(B)plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who ^(C)tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

⁸ Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? ⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, ^(D)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? ¹⁰ Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that ^(E)he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. ^11 (F)If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? ¹² If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

^(G)Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things ^(H)lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.

By Faith We Understand

11 Now faith is the ^[a]substance of things hoped for, the ^[b]evidence ^(A)of things not seen.

⁷ By faith ^(A)Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, ^(B)prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of ^(C)the righteousness which is according to faith.

³ Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: ^(A)“Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some ^(B)a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ^9 (C)He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The Purpose of Parables^(D)

¹⁰ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

¹¹ He answered and said to them, “Because ^(E)it has been given to you to know the ^[a]mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ^12 (F)For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

¹⁶ But ^(L)blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;