Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise for Rescue from Enemies.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 Then 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 animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky; on everything that crawls on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. They are handed over to you. ³ Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, ^(B)as I gave the green plant. ⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ^(C)its blood. ⁵ I certainly will require ^[a](D)your lifeblood; ^[b](E)from every animal I will require it. And ^[c]from every person, ^[d]from every man as his brother I will require the life of a person.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, ^(I)I Myself am establishing My covenant with you, and with your ^[f]descendants after you; ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, every animal of the earth. ¹¹ I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^(J)never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, ^(K)nor 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 ^[g]all future generations; ¹³ I have set My ^(M)rainbow in the cloud, and it shall ^[h]serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow 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 rainbow is in the cloud, then I will look at 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 mocking and flogging, and further, ^(P)chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were ^(Q)stoned, they were sawn in two, ^[c]they were tempted, they were ^(R)put to death with the sword; they went about ^(S)in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ^(T)tormented ³⁸ (people of whom the world was not worthy), ^(U)wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes ^[d]in the ground.

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