Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God Warns Noah

⁹ These are the family records^(A) of Noah. Noah was a righteous man,^(B) blameless among his contemporaries;^(C) Noah walked with God.^{(D) 10} And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness.^{[a] 12} God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth.^{(E) 13} Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.

¹⁴ “Make yourself an ark of gopher^[b] wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.^{[c] 16} You are to make a roof,^[d] finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches^[e] of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.

¹⁷ “Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth^(F) to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you,^(G) and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. ¹⁹ You are also to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of everything—from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds—will come to you so that you can keep them alive. ²¹ Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them.” ²² And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.^(H)

²⁴ And the water surged on the earth 150 days.

¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.

The Lord’s Promise

¹⁵ Then God spoke to Noah, ¹⁶ “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the earth—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”^{(A) 18} So Noah, along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, came out. ¹⁹ All the animals, all the creatures that crawl, and all the flying creatures—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark by their families.

Psalm 46

God Our Refuge

For the choir director. A song of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.^(A)

The Righteous Will Live by Faith

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel,^[a](A) because it is the power of God for salvation^(B) to everyone who believes, first to the Jew,^(C) and also to the Greek.^{(D) 17} For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith,^[b](E) just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.^[c][d](F)

²² The righteousness of God is through faith^(A) in Jesus Christ^[a](B) to all who believe,^(C) since there is no distinction.^{(D) 23} For all have sinned^(E) and fall short of the^[b] glory of God; ²⁴ they are justified freely by his grace^(F) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.^{(G) 25} God presented him as the mercy seat^[c](H) by his blood,^(I) through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God^(J) passed over the sins previously committed.^{(K) 26} God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Boasting Excluded

²⁷ Where, then, is boasting?^(L) It is excluded. By what kind of law?^[d](M) By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law^[e] of faith. ²⁸ For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.^(N)

²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only?^(A) Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, ³⁰ since there is one God^(B) who will justify the circumcised by faith^(C) and the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹ Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not!^(D) On the contrary, we uphold the law.^(E)

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,^(A) but only the one who does the will^(B) of my Father in heaven.^{(C) 22} On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons^(D) in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’^{(E) 23} Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’^[a][b](F)

The Two Foundations

²⁴ “Therefore,^(G) everyone who hears these words^(H) of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things,^(I) the crowds were astonished at his teaching,^{(J) 29} because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.