Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song by David for going up to worship.
124 “If the Lord had not been on our side …”
(Israel should repeat this.)
2 “If the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us,
3 then they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger exploded against us.
4 Then the floodwaters would have swept us away.
An ⌞overflowing⌟ stream would have washed us away.
5 Then raging water would have washed us away.”
6 Thank the Lord, who did not let them sink their teeth into us.
7 We escaped like a bird caught in a hunter’s trap.
The trap was broken, and we escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
God Blesses Noah and His Sons
9 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fertile, increase in number, and fill the earth. 2 All the wild animals and all the birds will fear you and be terrified of you. Every creature that crawls on the ground and all the fish in the sea have been put under your control. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be your food. I gave you green plants as food; I now give you everything else.
4 “But you are not to eat meat with blood in it. (Blood is life.) 5 In addition, I will demand your blood for your life. I will demand it from any animal or from any person. I will demand the life of any person ⌞who kills⌟ another person.
6 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans his blood will be shed,
because in the image of God, God made humans.
7 Be fertile, and increase in number. Spread over the earth, and increase.”
God’s Promise—the Sign of the Rainbow
8 God also said to Noah and his sons, 9 “I am going to make my promise [a] to you, your descendants, 10 and every living being that is with you—birds, domestic animals, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ship—every living thing on earth. 11 I am making my promise to you. Never again will all life be killed by floodwaters. Never again will there be a flood that destroys the earth.”
12 God said, “This is the sign of the promise I am giving to you and every living being that is with you for generations to come. 13 I will put my rainbow in the clouds to be a sign of my promise to the earth. 14 Whenever I form clouds over the earth, a rainbow will appear in the clouds. 15 Then I will remember my promise to you and every living animal. Never again will water become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember my everlasting promise to every living animal on earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the promise I am making to all life on earth.”
32 What more should I say? I don’t have enough time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. 33 Through faith they conquered kingdoms, did what God approved, and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 put out raging fires, and escaped death. They found strength when they were weak. They were powerful in battle and defeated other armies. 35 Women received their loved ones back from the dead. Other believers were brutally tortured but refused to be released so that they might gain eternal life. 36 Some were made fun of and whipped, and some were chained and put in prison. 37 Some were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. Some were poor, abused, and mistreated. 38 The world didn’t deserve these good people. Some wandered around in deserts and mountains and lived in caves and holes in the ground.
39 All these people were known for their faith, but none of them received what God had promised. 40 God planned to give us something very special so that we would gain eternal life with them.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.