Prayer for the Lord’s Help.

A Song of Ascents.

The Lord, an Abundant Helper.

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “^(A)Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky; on everything that crawls on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. They are handed over to you. ³ Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, ^(B)as I gave the green plant. ⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ^(C)its blood. ⁵ I certainly will require ^[a](D)your lifeblood; ^[b](E)from every animal I will require it. And ^[c]from every person, ^[d]from every man as his brother I will require the life of a person.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, ^(I)I Myself am establishing My covenant with you, and with your ^[f]descendants after you; ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, every animal of the earth. ¹¹ I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^(J)never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, ^(K)nor shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² God said, “This is ^(L)the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for ^[g]all future generations; ¹³ I have set My ^(M)rainbow in the cloud, and it shall ^[h]serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, ¹⁵ and ^(N)I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and ^(O)never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the cloud, then I will look at it, to remember the ^(P)everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

⁷ In the days of ^[a]His humanity, ^[b](A)He offered up both prayers and pleas with ^(B)loud crying and tears to the One ^(C)able to save Him ^[c]from death, and He ^[d]was heard because of His ^(D)devout behavior. ⁸ Although He was ^(E)a Son, He learned ^(F)obedience from the things which He suffered. ⁹ And having been ^(G)perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him, ¹⁰ being designated by God as ^(H)High Priest according to ^(I)the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹ Concerning ^[e]him we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become ^[f]poor listeners. ¹² For though ^[g]by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you ^(J)the ^[h](K)elementary principles of the ^(L)actual words of God, and you have come to need ^(M)milk and not solid food. ¹³ For everyone who partakes only of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an ^(N)infant. ¹⁴ But solid food is for ^(O)the mature, who because of practice have their senses ^(P)trained to ^(Q)distinguish between good and evil.

¹⁶ “For God so ^(A)loved the world, that He ^(B)gave His ^(C)only Son, so that everyone who ^(D)believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God ^(E)did not send the Son into the world ^(F)to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. ^18 (G)The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^(H)the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that ^(I)the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for ^(J)their deeds were evil. ^20 (K)For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. ²¹ But the one who ^(L)practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed ^[a]as having been performed in God.”