Evil Increases on the Earth

6 The number of people increased all over the earth, and daughters were born to them. ² The sons of God saw that the daughters of other humans were beautiful. So they married any woman they chose.

³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not struggle with humans forever, because they are flesh and blood. They will live 120 years.”

⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, as well as later, when the sons of God slept with the daughters of other humans and had children by them. These children were famous long ago.

⁵ The Lord saw how evil humans had become on the earth. All day long their deepest thoughts were nothing but evil. ⁶ The Lord was sorry that he had made humans on the earth, and he was heartbroken. ⁷ So he said, “I will wipe off the face of the earth these humans that I created. I will wipe out not only humans, but also domestic animals, crawling animals, and birds. I’m sorry that I made them.” ⁸ But the Lord was pleased with Noah.

Noah’s Family and the Ship

⁹ This is the account of Noah and his descendants.

Noah had God’s approval and was a man of integrity among the people of his time. He walked with God. ¹⁰ He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ The world was corrupt in God’s sight and full of violence. ¹² God saw the world and how corrupt it was because all people on earth lived evil lives.

¹³ God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all people because the earth is full of their violence. Now I’m going to destroy them along with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself a ship of cypress wood. ^[a] Make rooms in the ship and coat it inside and out with tar. ¹⁵ This is how you should build it: the ship is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. ¹⁶ Make a roof for the ship, and leave an 18-inch-high opening at the top. Put a door in the side of the ship. Build the ship with lower, middle, and upper decks. ¹⁷ I’m about to send a flood on the earth to destroy all people under the sky—every living, breathing human. Everything on earth will die.

¹⁸ “But I will make my promise ^[b] to you. You, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives will go into the ship. ¹⁹ Bring two of every living creature into the ship in order to keep them alive with you. They must be male and female. ²⁰ Two of every type of bird, every type of domestic animal, and every type of creature that crawls on the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ Take every kind of food that can be eaten and store it. It will be food for you and the animals.”

²² Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.

The Flood

7 The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ship with your whole family because I have seen that you alone are righteous among the people of today. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal (a male and a female of each) and one pair of every kind of unclean ^[c] animal (a male and a female). ³ Also, take seven pairs of every kind of bird (a male and a female of each) to preserve animal life all over the earth after the flood. ⁴ In seven days I will send rain to the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. I will wipe off the face of the earth every living creature that I have made.”

⁵ So Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

Jesus Heals on the Day of Rest—a Holy Day^(A)

3 Jesus went into a synagogue again. A man who had a paralyzed hand was there. ² The people were watching Jesus closely. They wanted to see whether he would heal the man on the day of rest—a holy day, so that they could accuse him of doing something wrong.

³ So he told the man with the paralyzed hand, “Stand in the center ⌞of the synagogue⌟.” ⁴ Then he asked them, “Is it right to do good or to do evil on the day of rest—a holy day, to give a person back his health or to let him die?”

But they were silent. ⁵ Jesus was angry as he looked around at them. He was deeply hurt because their minds were closed. Then he told the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held it out, and his hand became normal again.

⁶ The Pharisees left, and with Herod’s followers they immediately plotted to kill Jesus.

Many People Are Cured^(B)

⁷ Jesus left with his disciples for the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd from Galilee, Judea, ⁸ Jerusalem, Idumea, and from across the Jordan River, and from around Tyre and Sidon followed him. They came to him because they had heard about everything he was doing. ⁹ Jesus told his disciples to have a boat ready so that the crowd would not crush him. ¹⁰ He had cured so many that everyone with a disease rushed up to him in order to touch him. ¹¹ Whenever people with evil spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² He gave them orders not to tell people who he was.

Jesus Appoints Twelve Apostles^(C)

¹³ Jesus went up a mountain, called those whom he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴ He appointed twelve whom he called apostles.^[a] They were to accompany him and to be sent out by him to spread ⌞the Good News⌟. ¹⁵ They also had the authority to force demons out of people.

¹⁶ He appointed these twelve: Simon (whom Jesus named Peter), ¹⁷ James and his brother John (Zebedee’s sons whom Jesus named Boanerges, which means “Thunderbolts”), ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed Jesus).