Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise for Rescue from Enemies.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 And 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 beast of the earth and on every bird of the ^[a]sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. ³ Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, ^(B)as I gave the green plant. ⁴ Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ^(C)its blood. ⁵ Surely I will require ^[b](D)your lifeblood; ^[c](E)from every beast I will require it. And ^[d]from every man, ^[e]from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, ^(I)I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your ^[g]descendants after you; ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. ¹¹ I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^(J)never again be cut off by the water of the flood, ^(K)neither 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 ^[h]all successive generations; ¹³ I set My ^(M)bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow 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 bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon 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.”

³² And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of ^(A)Gideon, ^(B)Barak, ^(C)Samson, ^(D)Jephthah, of ^(E)David and ^(F)Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who by faith ^(G)conquered kingdoms, ^(H)performed acts of righteousness, ^(I)obtained promises, ^(J)shut the mouths of lions, ^34 (K)quenched the power of fire, ^(L)escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, ^(M)became mighty in war, ^(N)put foreign armies to flight. ^35 (O)Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their ^[a]release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; ³⁶ and others ^[b]experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also ^(P)chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were ^(Q)stoned, they were ^(R)sawn in two, ^[c]they were tempted, they were ^(S)put to death with the sword; they went about ^(T)in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ^(U)ill-treated ³⁸ (men of whom the world was not worthy), ^(V)wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes ^[d]in the ground.

³⁹ And all these, having ^[e](W)gained approval through their faith, ^(X)did not receive ^[f]what was promised, ⁴⁰ because God had ^[g]provided ^(Y)something better for us, so that ^(Z)apart from us they would not be made perfect.