Genesis 9
1 Thus God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it.†
2 For the dread and fear of you shall be upon all the wild animals of the earth, all the birds of heaven, all that move upon the earth, and all the fish of the sea. I have put them under your authority.
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as I did the green herbs.
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its lifeblood.
5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of all the wild animals I will require it; and I will require the life of man at the hand of his fellow man.
6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; because I made man in God’s image.
7 So then, increase and multiply; and fill the earth and have dominion over it.”
God’s Covenant with Noah
8 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons with him, saying,
9 “Behold, I am establishing My covenant with you and with your seed after you,
10 and every living creature with you: the birds, the cattle, and all the wild animals of the earth, of all that came out of the ark with you.
11 Thus I will establish My covenant with you, and never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 Then the Lord God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I am setting My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;
15 and I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 My rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will certainly remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh on the earth.”
17 Again God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I established between Me and all flesh on the earth.”
18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.
19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
20 Then Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard.
21 So he drank of the wine and was drunk and naked in his house.
22 Now Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walking backwards they covered their father’s nakedness. Since their faces were turned away, they did not see his nakedness.
24 Thus when Noah became sober and knew what his younger son had done to him,
25 he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, And Canaan shall be his servant.†
27 May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the habitations of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant as well.”
28 Now Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.
29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.
Psalms 10
1 For the End; a psalm by David. †In the Lord I trust. How will you say to my soul, “Flee to the mountains like a sparrow”?
2 See, the sinners stretch tight their bow; They prepare their arrows in the quiver, That in a moonless night they may shoot down the upright in heart.
3 For the things You created, they destroyed. But what did the righteous man do?
4 The Lord is in His holy temple; The Lord, His throne is in heaven; His eyes are fixed upon the poor man, His eyelids examine the sons of men.
5 The Lord examines the righteous man and the ungodly man, And he who loves unrighteousness hates his own soul.
6 He shall rain down snares upon sinners; Fire and brimstone and a raging wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 The righteous Lord loves righteousness; His face beholds the upright.
Psalms 11
1 For the End, concerning the eighth; a psalm by David. †
2 Save me, O Lord, for the holy man has ceased; The truthful are diminished from among the sons of men.
3 Each one speaks useless things to his neighbor; Deceptive lips speak with a double heart.
4 May the Lord destroy all deceptive lips And the tongue that speaks boastful things,
5 Saying, “We will make our tongue powerful; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us?”
6 “Because of the suffering of the needy, And because of the groaning of the poor, Now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will establish them in salvation; I will declare it boldly.”
7 The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver fired in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.
8 You shall guard us, O Lord; You shall preserve us from this generation forever.
9 The ungodly walk in a circle; In Your exaltation, You highly exalted the sons of men.
Proverbs of Solomon 2
6 For the Lord gives wisdom, And from His face come knowledge and understanding;
7 And He stores up salvation for the upright; He will protect their journey,†
8 That He might guard the ways of His ordinances; And He will carefully guard the way of those who reverence Him.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and judgment, And accomplish successfully every good path for yourself.
Matthew 7
On Judging Others
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.†
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.†
Persevering in Prayer
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.†
8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!†
12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.†
The Narrow Gate
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.†
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Beware of False Prophets
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.†
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.†
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.†
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Hearing and Doing Jesus’ Teachings
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:†
25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.