Increasing Corruption on Earth

6 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, ^(A)“My Spirit shall not abide in^[a] man forever, ^(B)for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” ⁴ The Nephilim^[b] were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

^5 (C)The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every ^(D)intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And ^(E)the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it ^(F)grieved him to his heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah ^(G)found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah and the Flood

⁹ These are the generations of Noah. ^(H)Noah was a righteous man, ^(I)blameless in his generation. Noah ^(J)walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God ^(K)saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, ^(L)for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. ¹³ And God said to Noah, ^(M)“I have determined to make an end of all flesh,^[c] for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.^[d] Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits,^[e] its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. ¹⁶ Make a roof^[f] for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. ^17 (N)For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸ But ^(O)I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. ¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. ²¹ Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” ^22 (P)Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

The Fall of Ai

8 And the Lord said to Joshua, ^(A)“Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, ^(B)I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. ² And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did ^(C)to Jericho and its king. Only ^(D)its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

³ So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. ⁴ And he commanded them, “Behold, ^(E)you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. ⁵ And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us ^(F)just as before, we shall flee before them. ⁶ And they will come out after us, until we have ^(G)drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them. ⁷ Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand. ⁸ And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the Lord. ^(H)See, I have commanded you.” ⁹ So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.

¹⁰ Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ¹¹ And ^(I)all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. ¹² He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. ¹³ So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley. ¹⁴ And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place^[a] toward ^(J)the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. ^(K)But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵ And Joshua and all Israel ^(L)pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. ¹⁶ So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they ^(M)were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, ^(N)“Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹ And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. ²⁰ So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. ²¹ And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. ²² And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was ^(O)left none that survived or escaped. ²³ But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.

²⁴ When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. ²⁶ But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he ^(P)stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.^{[b] 27} Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the Lord that he ^(Q)commanded Joshua. ²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a ^(R)heap of ruins, as it is to this day. ^29 (S)And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. ^(T)And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and ^(U)raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

7 In the days of ^(A)Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, ^(B)Rezin the king of Syria and ^(C)Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. ² When the house of David was told, ^(D)“Syria is in league with^{[a] (E)}Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz^[b] and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

³ And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and ^(F)Shear-jashub^[c] your son, at the end of ^(G)the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. ⁴ And say to him, ^(H)‘Be careful, ^(I)be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two ^(J)smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and ^(K)the son of Remaliah. ⁵ Because Syria, with Ephraim and ^(L)the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, ⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it^[d] for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” ⁷ thus says the Lord God:

Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

6 Then Job answered and said:

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

^18 (A)While walking by ^(B)the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you ^(C)fishers of men.”^{[a] 20} Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

^23 (D)And he went throughout all Galilee, ^(E)teaching in their synagogues and ^(F)proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and ^(G)healing every disease and every affliction among the people. ²⁴ So his fame spread throughout all ^(H)Syria, and ^(I)they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and ^(J)pains, ^(K)those oppressed by demons, ^(L)those having seizures, and ^(M)paralytics, and he healed them. ^25 (N)And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the ^(O)Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Peter Speaks in Solomon's Portico

^11 (A)While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in ^(B)the portico called Solomon's. ¹² And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? ^13 (C)The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, ^(D)the God of our fathers, ^(E)glorified his servant^[a] Jesus, whom ^(F)you delivered over and ^(G)denied in the presence of Pilate, ^(H)when he had decided to release him. ¹⁴ But you denied ^(I)the Holy and ^(J)Righteous One, and ^(K)asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and you killed ^(L)the Author of life, ^(M)whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And ^(N)his name—by ^(O)faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is ^(P)through Jesus^[b] has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷ “And now, brothers, I know that ^(Q)you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But what God ^(R)foretold ^(S)by the mouth of all the prophets, that ^(T)his Christ would ^(U)suffer, he thus fulfilled. ^19 (V)Repent therefore, and ^(W)turn back, that ^(X)your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰ that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ ^(Y)appointed for you, Jesus, ^21 (Z)whom heaven must receive until the time for ^(AA)restoring all the things about which ^(AB)God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. ²² Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you ^(AC)a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen ^(AD)to him in whatever he tells you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet ^(AE)shall be destroyed from the people.’ ²⁴ And ^(AF)all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. ^25 (AG)You are the sons of the prophets and of ^(AH)the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ^(AI)‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ^26 (AJ)God, ^(AK)having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, ^(AL)to bless you ^(AM)by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”