Genesis 9 - 10, Matthew 7:15-8:34, Psalm 5

9And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “^aBe fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ²“And the fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the ¹sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. ³“Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; ^aas with the green plant, I give all to you. ⁴“However, flesh with its life, that is, ^aits blood, you shall not eat. ⁵“Surely I will require ¹^,^ayour lifeblood; ²^,^bfrom every living thing I will require it. And ³from every man, ⁴from each man’s brother I will require the life of man.

⁶“^aWhoever sheds man’s blood,By man his blood shall be shed,For ^bin the image of GodHe made man.⁷“As for you, ^abe fruitful and multiply;¹Swarm on the earth and multiply in it.”

⁸Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹“As for Me, behold, ^aI establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you; ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. ¹¹“Indeed I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^anever again be cut off by the water of the flood, ^band there shall never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹²Then God said, “This is ^athe sign of the covenant which I am giving to be between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for ¹all successive generations; ¹³I put My ^abow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴“And it will be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, ¹⁵and ^aI will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and ^bnever again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶“So the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, to remember the ^aeverlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷And 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.”

Noah’s Three Sons

¹⁸Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and ^aHam was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹These three were the sons of Noah, and ^afrom these the whole earth was scattered abroad.

²⁰Then Noah began to be ¹a man of the land and planted a vineyard. ²¹And he drank of the wine and ^abecame drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²²Then Ham, the father of Canaan, ^asaw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. ²³But Shem and Japheth took the garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned backward, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴Then Noah awoke from his wine, and he knew what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵So he said, “^aCursed be Canaan;¹^,^bA servant of servantsHe shall be to his brothers.”

²⁶And he said, “^aBlessed be Yahweh,The God of Shem;And let Canaan be ¹his servant.

²⁷“^aMay God enlarge Japheth,And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;And let Canaan be ¹his servant.”

²⁸And Noah lived 350 years after the flood. ²⁹So all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

The Generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth

10Now these are the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.

²^aThe sons of Japheth were ^bGomer and Magog and ^cMadai and ^dJavan and Tubal and ^eMeshech and Tiras. ³The sons of Gomer were ^aAshkenaz and ¹Riphath and ^bTogarmah. ⁴The sons of Javan were Elishah and ^aTarshish, Kittim and ¹Dodanim. ⁵From these the coastlands of the nations ¹were separated into their lands, every one according to his tongue, according to their families, into their nations.

⁶^aThe sons of Ham were Cush and ¹Mizraim and Put and Canaan. ⁷The sons of Cush were ^aSeba and Havilah and Sabtah and ^bRaamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were ^cSheba and ^dDedan. ⁸Now Cush ¹was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. ⁹He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh.” ¹⁰The beginning of his kingdom was ¹^,^aBabel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of ^bShinar. ¹¹From that land he went out ^ato Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, ¹²and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ¹³Mizraim ¹was the father of ^aLudim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim ¹⁴and ^aPathrusim and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.

¹⁵Canaan ¹was the father of ^aSidon, his firstborn, and ^bHeth ¹⁶and ^athe Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite ¹⁷and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite ¹⁸and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were scattered. ¹⁹^aThe border of the Canaanite ¹extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward ^bSodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, by their nations.

²¹Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the ¹older brother of Japheth, children were born. ²²^aThe sons of Shem were ^bElam and Asshur and ^cArpachshad and ^dLud and Aram. ²³The sons of Aram were ^aUz and Hul and Gether and Mash. ²⁴Arpachshad ¹was the father of ^aShelah; and Shelah ²was the father of Eber. ²⁵^aNow two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was ¹Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶And Joktan ¹was the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah ²⁷and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah ²⁸and ¹Obal and Abimael and Sheba ²⁹and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

³⁰Now their ¹settlement ²extended from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the hill country of the east. ³¹These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, according to their nations.

³²These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, by their nations; and ^aout of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

A Tree and Its Fruit

¹⁵“Beware of the ^afalse prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ^bravenous wolves. ¹⁶“You will ¹^,^aknow them by their fruits. ²Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷“Even so, ^aevery good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹“^aEvery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰“So then, you will ¹know them ^aby their fruits.

²¹“^aNot everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ²²“^aMany will say to Me on ^bthat day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many ¹miracles?’ ²³“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; ^adepart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Build Your House on the Rock

²⁴“Therefore ^aeveryone who hears these words of Mine and does them, ¹may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵“And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and fell against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶“And everyone hearing these words of Mine and not doing them, may be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷“And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

²⁸¹^,^aNow it happened that when Jesus had finished these words, ^bthe crowds were astonished at His teaching; ²⁹for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

8Now when ¹Jesus came down from the ²mountain, ³large crowds followed Him. ²And behold, ^aa leper came to Him and ¹^,^bwas bowing down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ³And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his ^aleprosy was cleansed. ⁴And Jesus *said to him, “^aSee that you tell no one; but ^bgo, ^cshow yourself to the priest and present the ¹offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

The Centurion’s Faith

⁵And ^awhen ¹Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, ⁶and saying, “¹Lord, my ²servant is ³lying ^aparalyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” ⁷And Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸But the centurion said, “¹Lord, I am not good enough for You to come under my roof, but just ²say the word, and my ³servant will be healed. ⁹“For I also am a man under ^aauthority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith ¹with anyone in Israel. ¹¹“And I say to you that many ^awill come from east and west, and ¹recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹²but ^athe sons of the kingdom will be cast out into ^bthe outer darkness; in that place ^cthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; ¹it shall be done for you ^aas you have believed.” And the ²servant was healed that very ³moment.

Peter’s Mother-in-Law and Many Others Healed

¹⁴^aWhen Jesus came into Peter’s ¹home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. ¹⁵And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and began ¹waiting on Him. ¹⁶Now when evening came, they brought to Him many ^awho were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and ^bhealed all who were ill ¹⁷in order to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “^aHe Himself took our infirmities and ¹carried away our diseases.”

The Cost of Following Jesus

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, ^aHe gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. ¹⁹^aThen a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰And Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the ¹air have ²nests, but ^athe Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ²¹And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ²²But Jesus *said to him, “^aFollow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

²³^aAnd when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴And behold, there arose ¹a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was sleeping. ²⁵And they came to Him and got Him up, saying, “^aSave us, Lord; we are perishing!” ²⁶And He *said to them, “Why are you so cowardly, ^ayou men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and ¹it became perfectly calm. ²⁷And the men marveled, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Saves Men from Demons

²⁸^aAnd when He came to the other side, into the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were ^bdemon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. ²⁹And behold, they cried out, saying, “¹^,^aWhat do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the ²time?” ³⁰Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. ³¹And the demons began to plead with Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” ³²And He said to them, “Go!” And coming out, they went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. ³³Now the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, ¹including what had happened to the ^ademoniacs. ³⁴And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, ^athey pleaded with Him to leave their region.

Lead Me in Your Righteousness

For the choir director. For ¹the flutes. A Psalm of David.

^aGive ear to my words, O Yahweh,Consider my ^bmeditation.²Give heed to ^athe sound of my cry for help, ^bmy King and my God,For to You I pray.³O Yahweh, in the morning, ¹You will hear my voice;In the ^amorning I will order my ²prayer to You and eagerly ^bwatch.⁴For You are not a God ^awho delights in wickedness;^bEvil does not sojourn with You.⁵The ^aboastful shall not ^bstand before Your eyes;You ^chate all workers of iniquity.⁶You ^adestroy those who speak falsehood;Yahweh abhors ^bthe man of bloodshed and deceit.⁷But as for me, ^ain the abundance of Your lovingkindness I will enter Your house,¹At Your holy temple I will ^bworship in ^cfear of You.⁸O Yahweh, ^alead me ^bin Your righteousness ^cbecause of ¹my foes;Make Your way ²straight before me.⁹There is ^anothing ¹reliable in their mouth;Their ^binward part is destruction itself.Their ^cthroat is an open grave;They ²flatter with their tongue.¹⁰Hold them guilty, O God;^aBy their own devices let them fall!In the abundance of their transgressions ^bthrust them out,For they are ^crebellious against You.¹¹But let all who ^atake refuge in You ^bbe glad,Let them ever sing for joy;And ¹may You ^cshelter them,That those who ^dlove Your name may exult in You.¹²For it is You who ^ablesses the righteous one, O Yahweh,You ^bsurround him with favor as with a large shield.