Tuesday in Advent

1Verse 1. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2Verse 2. The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. 3Verse 3. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things. 4Verse 4. But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. 5Verse 5. And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man: 6Verse 6. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind. 7Verse 7. But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.” 8Verse 8. Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, 9Verse 9. “Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10Verse 10. and with every living creature that was with you — the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth— every living thing that came out of the ark. 11Verse 11. And I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12Verse 12. And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13Verse 13. I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14Verse 14. Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15Verse 15. I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16Verse 16. And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.” 17Verse 17. So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.”

32Verse 32. And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33Verse 33. who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34Verse 34. quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. 35Verse 35. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Verse 36. Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37Verse 37. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. 38Verse 38. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground. 39Verse 39. These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. 40Verse 40. God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.