Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord Saves His People
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
124 What if the Lord had not been on our side?
(Let Israel repeat this.)
2 What if the Lord had not been on our side
when we were attacked?
3 When they were angry with us,
they would have swallowed us alive.
4 They would have been like a flood drowning us;
they would have poured over us like a river.
5 They would have swept us away like a mighty stream.
6 Praise the Lord,
who did not let them chew us up.
7 We escaped like a bird
from the hunter’s trap.
The trap broke,
and we escaped.
8 Our help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
The New Beginning
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Have many children; grow in number and fill the earth. 2 Every animal on earth, every bird in the sky, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will respect and fear you. I have given them to you.
3 “Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants, but now I give you everything for food. 4 But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life. 5 I will demand blood for life. I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person, and I will demand the life of anyone who takes another person’s life.
6 “Whoever kills a human being
will be killed by a human being,
because God made humans
in his own image.
7 “As for you, Noah, I want you and your family to have many children, to grow in number on the earth, and to become many.”
8 Then God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “Now I am making my agreement with you and your people who will live after you, 10 and with every living thing that is with you—the birds, the tame and the wild animals, and with everything that came out of the boat with you—with every living thing on earth. 11 I make this agreement with you: I will never again destroy all living things by a flood. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the agreement between me and you and every living creature that is with you. 13 I am putting my rainbow in the clouds as the sign of the agreement between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and a rainbow appears in them, 15 I will remember my agreement between me and you and every living thing. Floods will never again destroy all life on the earth. 16 When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and I will remember the agreement that continues forever between me and every living thing on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “The rainbow is a sign of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.”
32 Do I need to give more examples? I do not have time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. 33 Through their faith they defeated kingdoms. They did what was right, received God’s promises, and shut the mouths of lions. 34 They stopped great fires and were saved from being killed with swords. They were weak, and yet were made strong. They were powerful in battle and defeated other armies. 35 Women received their dead relatives raised back to life. Others were tortured and refused to accept their freedom so they could be raised from the dead to a better life. 36 Some were laughed at and beaten. Others were put in chains and thrown into prison. 37 They were stoned to death, they were cut in half,[a] and they were killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. They were poor, abused, and treated badly. 38 The world was not good enough for them! They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the earth.
39 All these people are known for their faith, but none of them received what God had promised. 40 God planned to give us something better so that they would be made perfect, but only together with us.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.