Genesis 7–9
1 The Lord said to Noah, “You and your entire household go into the ark, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me among this generation. 2 Take with you seven each of every clean animal, the male and its female, and two each of every unclean animal, the male and its female, 3 and seven each of birds of the air, the male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 In seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will destroy from the face of the earth.”
5 And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah went with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives into the ark because of the floodwaters. 8 Everything that creeps on the land from clean and unclean animals and birds 9 came in two by two, male and female, to Noah into the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 After seven days, the waters of the flood were on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the same day, all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark. 14 They and every wild animal according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort, 15 went with Noah into the ark, two by two of all flesh in which was the breath of life. 16 So they went in, male and female of all flesh, just as God had commanded him; then the Lord shut him in.
17 The flood was on the earth forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose up above the earth. 18 The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 The water prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed upward and the mountains were covered fifteen cubits deep. 21 All flesh that moved on the earth died: birds and livestock and beasts, and every creeping thing that crept on the earth, and every man. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23 So He blotted out every living thing which was on the face of the ground, both man and animals and the creeping things and the birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.
24 The waters prevailed on the earth for one hundred and fifty days.
Chapter 8
1 God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. So God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the water receded. 2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, and the rain from the heavens was restrained. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth, and after the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 The ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The water continually decreased until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
6 Then at the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, 7 and he sent forth a raven, which went to and fro until the waters were dried up on the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the waters were on the surface of all the earth. Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. 10 He waited yet another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11 The dove came to him in the evening, and in her mouth there was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 He waited another seven days and sent out the dove again, but it did not return to him again.
13 So in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw the surface of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may breed abundantly on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
18 So Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went out. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 The Lord smelled a soothing aroma; and the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
22 While the earth remains,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
and day and night
will not cease.”
Chapter 9
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 Every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky and all that moves on the earth and all the fish of the sea will fear you and be terrified of you. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. I give you everything, just as I gave you the green plant.
4 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 But for your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; from every animal will I require it; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man.
6 Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for God made man
in His own image.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Again God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9 “As for Me, I establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 I establish My covenant with you. Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood. Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 Then God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations. 13 I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14 When I bring a cloud over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the cloud; 15 then I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow will appear in the cloud, and I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank some of the wine and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 So Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Canaan be cursed!
He will be a servant of servants
to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord God of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,
and may he dwell in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his servant.”
28 Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and then he died.
Matthew 3
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make His paths straight.’”
4 This same John had clothing made of camel’s hair, a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him, 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, “O generation of vipers, who has warned you to escape from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is put to the tree roots. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I indeed baptize you with water to repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean His floor and gather His wheat into the granary, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 But John prohibited Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
16 And when Jesus was baptized, He came up immediately out of the water. And suddenly the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending on Him like a dove. 17 And a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
