Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.[a]
124 If the Lord was not fighting for us,
what would have happened?
Israel's people, now answer:
2 ‘If the Lord was not fighting for us when men attacked us,
3 our enemies would have eaten us alive![b]
They would have destroyed us,
because they were so angry against us.
4 They would have been too strong for us,
like rivers of waters that covered us,
5 They would have been like deep water over our heads
that drowned us.[c]
6 We should praise the Lord!
He did not let our enemies destroy us,
like wild animals that kill their food and eat it.
7 Now we have become free,
like a bird that got free out of a trap.
Our enemies lost their power, and we are free![d]
8 The one who helped us is the Lord.
He made the whole universe.’
God's covenant with Noah
9 God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, ‘Give birth to many children so that you become very many people. Your descendants will live all over the earth. 2 All the animals and all the birds will be afraid of you. You have authority over them. You also have authority over all the living things that move across the ground and all the fish in the sea. 3 You may now eat anything that lives and moves. Before, I gave you the green plants to eat. Now I give you everything to eat as your food.
4 But you must not eat meat that still has the blood of life in it.
5 If any person or animal kills a human, I will certainly punish them. Their punishment will be death.
6 God made people so that they were like himself.[a]
So if anyone kills a human,
another human must kill him.
7 But as for you, you should give birth to many children so that you become very many people. There will be many people and they will live all over the earth.’
8 God said to Noah and to his sons, 9 ‘I promise you that I will obey the covenant that I am making with you.[b] I promise this to you and to all your descendants. 10 I also promise this to all the animals and birds that came out of the ship with you. That is everything that lives on the earth. 11 This is the covenant that I promise to keep: I will never cause water to destroy all living things on the earth again. Deep water will never again come again to destroy the earth.’
12 Then God said, ‘I will show you clearly that I have made this covenant with you, and with every living animal. I will keep this promise for ever, for as long as people live on the earth. 13 I have put my rainbow among the clouds in the sky. It will show you clearly that I have made this covenant with everything on the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow will sometimes appear. 15 Then I will remember the covenant that I have made with you and with all the different kinds of living things. Never again will the water become so deep that it destroys everything that lives. 16 When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember my covenant. It is a promise that I have made with every kind of living thing on the earth.’
17 Then God said to Noah, ‘The rainbow will show you that I will certainly keep my promise. I will keep my covenant that is between me and everything that lives on the earth.’
32 I could say even more about other people who trusted God. But there is not enough time to talk about all of them. I could tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and all the prophets.[a] 33 As a result of their faith, they did great things. Some of them won wars against other countries. Others ruled in a way that is right and fair. They received the good things that God had promised. Some of them caused lions to shut their mouths.[b] 34 Some of them put out fires that were burning very strongly. Some of them got away from people who wanted to kill them with a sword. Other people who were weak became strong. They became powerful to fight wars. They won against foreign armies so that those armies ran away.[c]
35 Some women who trusted God received their friends and family back from death. God raised those people who had died to become alive again. Other people refused to turn against God so that their enemies would not hurt them. As a result, their enemies killed them. These people agreed to die because they were sure that they would live again with God. They knew that would be better for them.
36 Other people who trusted God received insults. Some of them were hit with whips. Enemies of God tied these people up and they put them in prison. 37 Some of them died when people killed them with stones. Some of them died when people cut them into two pieces. Some of them died when people killed them with swords. Some of these people wore the skins of sheep and goats while they travelled about. They were very poor and they had a lot of trouble. People did bad things to them. 38 These people who trusted God were too good for this world. Some of them had to travel about in the wilderness and on the hills. Some had to live in holes in the rocks and in the ground.
39 God said good things about all these people because they trusted him. But they still did not receive everything that God had promised to give to them.[d] 40 God had already decided to prepare something better for all of us. As a result, those people did not receive everything until we could join with them.[e]
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