Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise for Rescue from Enemies.

A Song of ^[a]Ascents. Of David.

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear and the terror of you shall be [instinctive] in every animal of the land and in every bird of the air; and together with everything that moves on the ground, and with all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand. ³ Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; I give you everything, as I gave you the green plants and vegetables. ⁴ But you shall not eat meat along with its life, that is, its blood.^{(A) 5} For your lifeblood I will most certainly require an accounting; from every animal [that kills a person] I will require it. And from man, from every man’s brother [that is, anyone who murders] I will require the life of man.^(B)

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, I am establishing My covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals of the earth along with you, of everything that comes out of the ark—every living creature of the earth. ¹¹ I will establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the water of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy and ruin the earth.” ¹² And God said, “This is the token (visible symbol, memorial) of the [solemn] covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations; ¹³ I set My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I bring clouds over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will [compassionately] remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the clouds and I look at it, I will [solemnly] remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This [rainbow] is the sign of the covenant (solemn pledge, binding agreement) which I have established between Me and all living things on the earth.”

³² And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,^{(A) 33} who by faith [that is, with an enduring trust in God and His promises] subdued kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promised blessings, closed the mouths of lions,^{(B) 34} extinguished the power of [raging] fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became mighty and unbeatable in battle, putting enemy forces to flight.^{(C) 35} Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured [to death], refusing to accept release [offered on the condition of denying their faith], so that they would be resurrected to a better life;^{(D) 36} and others experienced the trial of mocking and scourging [amid torture], and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned [to death], they were sawn in two, they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith], they were put to death by the sword; they went about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated ³⁸ (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and [living in] caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹ And all of these, though they gained [divine] approval through their faith, did not receive [the fulfillment of] what was promised, ⁴⁰ because God had us in mind and had something better for us, so that they [these men and women of authentic faith] would not be made perfect [that is, completed in Him] apart from us.