Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God Helps Men in Trouble

107 Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! His loving-kindness lasts forever! ² Let the people who have been saved say so. He has bought them and set them free from the hand of those who hated them. ³ He gathered them from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

¹⁷ Some were fools because of their wrong-doing. They had troubles because of their sins. ¹⁸ They hated all kinds of food. And they came near the gates of death. ¹⁹ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And He saved them from their suffering. ²⁰ He sent His Word and healed them. And He saved them from the grave. ²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving-kindness and His great works to the children of men! ²² Let them give Him gifts of thanks and tell of His works with songs of joy.

⁸ Then God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹ “See, I make My agreement with you, and with your children after you, ¹⁰ and with every living thing that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every animal of the earth, of all that came out of the large boat, every living thing on earth. ¹¹ I make My agreement with you, that never again will all flesh be destroyed by the water of a flood. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² Then God said, “This is something special to see for all time, because of the agreement that I am making between Me and you and every living thing that is with you: ¹³ I will set My rain-bow in the cloud, and it will be something special to see because of an agreement between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the rain-bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember My agreement that is between Me and you and every living thing of all flesh. Never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rain-bow is in the cloud, I will look upon it to remember the agreement that will last forever between God and every living thing of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the special thing to see because of the agreement I have made between Me and all flesh upon the earth.”

³ Let us honor and thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has already given us a taste of what heaven is like. ⁴ Even before the world was made, God chose us for Himself because of His love. He planned that we should be holy and without blame as He sees us. ⁵ God already planned to have us as His own children. This was done by Jesus Christ. In His plan God wanted this done.

⁶ We thank God for His loving-favor to us. He gave this loving-favor to us through His much-loved Son.