Praise the Lord’s Wonderful Works. Futility of Idols.

The Lord Exalted for His Goodness.

A Psalm of Praise, of David.

⁶ Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the ^(A)window of the ark which he had made; ⁷ and he sent out a raven, and it ^[a]flew here and there until the water was dried up ^[b]from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a ^[c]dove, to see if the water was low on the ^[d]surface of the land; ⁹ but the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot, so it returned to him in the ark, for the water was on the ^[e]surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took it, and brought it into the ark to himself. ¹⁰ So he waited another seven days longer; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ And the dove came to him in ^[f]the evening, and behold, in its ^[g]beak was a fresh olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was low on the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days longer, and sent out ^(B)the dove; but it did not return to him again.

¹³ Now it came about in the ^(C)six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, that the water was dried up ^[h]from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the ^[i]surface of the ground had dried up. ¹⁴ And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. ¹⁵ Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth, that they may ^[j](D)breed abundantly on the earth, and ^(E)be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹ Every animal, every crawling thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out ^[k]by their families from the ark.

²⁰ Then Noah built ^(F)an altar to the Lord, and took some of every kind of ^(G)clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered ^(H)burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord ^(I)smelled the soothing aroma, and the Lord said ^[l]to Himself, “I will never again ^(J)curse the ground on account of man, for ^(K)the ^[m]intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; ^(L)and I will never again ^[n]destroy every living thing, as I have done.

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great ^(A)high priest who has ^(B)passed through the heavens, Jesus ^(C)the Son of God, let’s hold firmly to our ^(D)confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have ^(E)a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been ^(F)tempted in all things just as we are, yet ^(G)without sin. ¹⁶ Therefore let’s ^(H)approach the throne of grace with ^(I)confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need.

The Perfect High Priest

5 For every high priest ^(J)taken from among men is appointed on behalf of people in ^(K)things pertaining to God, in order to ^(L)offer both gifts and sacrifices ^(M)for sins; ^2 [a](N)he can deal gently with the ^(O)ignorant and ^(P)misguided, since he himself also is ^[b](Q)clothed in weakness; ³ and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices ^(R)for sins for himself, ^(S)as well as for the people. ⁴ And ^(T)no one takes the honor for himself, but receives it when he is called by God, just ^(U)as Aaron also was.

⁵ So too Christ ^(V)did not glorify Himself in becoming a ^(W)high priest, but it was He who ^(X)said to Him,

⁶ just as He also says in another passage,

²³ Now when He was in Jerusalem at ^(A)the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name as they ^(B)observed His signs which He was doing. ²⁴ But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, because ^(C)He knew all people, ²⁵ and because He did not need anyone to testify about mankind, ^(D)for He Himself knew what was in mankind.

The New Birth

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named ^(E)Nicodemus, a ^(F)ruler of the Jews; ² this man came to ^[a]Jesus at night and said to Him, “^(G)Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these ^[b](H)signs that You do unless ^(I)God is with him.” ³ Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone ^(J)is born ^[c]again he cannot see ^(K)the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of ^(L)water and the Spirit, he cannot enter ^(M)the kingdom of God. ^6 (N)That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born ^[d]again.’ ^8 (O)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “You are ^(P)the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(Q)we speak of what we know and ^(R)testify of what we have seen, and ^(S)you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (T)No one has ascended into heaven, except ^(U)He who descended from heaven: ^(V)the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as ^(W)Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must ^(X)the Son of Man ^(Y)be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who ^[e]believes will ^(Z)have eternal life in Him.