The Corruption of Mankind

6 Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were ^[a]beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “^(A)My Spirit will not ^[b]remain with man forever, ^[c](B)because he is also flesh; ^[d]nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.” ⁴ The ^[e](C)Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

⁵ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that ^(D)every intent of the thoughts of ^[f]their hearts was only evil continually. ⁶ So ^(E)the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was ^(F)grieved ^[g]in His heart. ⁷ Then the Lord said, “^(G)I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For ^(H)I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But ^(I)Noah ^(J)found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

⁹ These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a ^(K)righteous man, ^[h](L)blameless in his generation. Noah ^(M)walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ Now the earth was ^(N)corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was ^(O)filled with violence. ¹² And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for ^[i](P)humanity had corrupted its way upon the earth.

¹³ Then God said to Noah, “^(Q)The end of ^[j]humanity has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of ^[k]people; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴ Make for yourself an ark of ^[l]gopher wood; you shall make the ark with compartments, and ^[m]cover it inside and out with pitch. ¹⁵ This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be ^[n]three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶ You shall make a ^[o]window for the ark, and finish it to a ^[p]cubit from ^[q]the top; and put the door of the ark on the side; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷ Now behold, ^(R)I Myself am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish ^(S)My covenant with you; and ^(T)you shall enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ^19 (U)And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ^20 (V)Of the birds according to their kind, and of the animals according to their kind, of every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. ²¹ As for you, take for yourself some of every ^(W)food that is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and them.” ^22 (X)So Noah did these things; according to everything that God had commanded him, so he did.

Peter’s Confession of Christ

^13 (A)Now when Jesus came into the region of ^(B)Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that ^(C)the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say ^(D)John the Baptist; and others, ^[a](E)Elijah; and still others, ^[b]Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” ¹⁵ He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are ^(F)the ^[c]Christ, ^(G)the Son of ^(H)the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, ^(I)Simon ^[d]Barjona, because ^(J)flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are ^[e](K)Peter, and upon this ^[f]rock I will build My church; and the gates of ^(L)Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you ^(M)the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and ^(N)whatever you ^[g]bind on earth ^[h]shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you ^[i]loose on earth ^[j]shall have been loosed in heaven.” ^20 (O)Then He gave the disciples strict orders that they were to tell no one that He was ^(P)the ^[k]Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

^21 (Q)From that time ^[l]Jesus began to ^[m]point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to ^(R)suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. ²² And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “^[n]God forbid it, Lord! This shall never ^[o]happen to You!” ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, ^(S)Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on ^[p]God’s purposes, but men’s.”

Discipleship Is Costly

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, ^(T)take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For ^(U)whoever wants to save his ^[q]life will lose it; but whoever loses his ^[r]life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but ^[s]forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the ^(V)Son of Man ^(W)is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ^(X)will then repay every person according to his ^[t]deeds.

²⁸ “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the ^(Y)Son of Man ^(Z)coming in His kingdom.”

The Flood

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be ^(A)righteous before Me in this generation. ² You shall take ^[a]with you ^[b]seven pairs of every ^(B)clean animal, a male and his female; and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and his female; ³ also of the birds of the sky, ^[c]seven pairs, male and female, to keep their ^[d]offspring alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For after ^(C)seven more days, I will send rain on the earth for ^(D)forty days and forty nights; and I will wipe out from the face of the land ^(E)every living thing that I have made.” ⁵ So ^(F)Noah acted in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him.

⁶ Now Noah was ^(G)six hundred years old when the flood of water ^[e]came upon the earth. ⁷ Then ^(H)Noah and his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the waters of the flood. ^8 (I)Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that crawls on the ground, ⁹ they all went into the ark to Noah ^[f]by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ Now it came about after ^(J)the seven days, that the waters of the flood ^[g]came upon the earth. ¹¹ In the ^(K)six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all ^(L)the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the ^[h]floodgates of the sky were opened. ^12 (M)The rain ^[i]fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On this very same day ^(N)Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, ¹⁴ they and every animal according to its kind, and all the livestock according to ^[j]their kind, and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, ^[k]all sorts of birds. ¹⁵ So they went into the ark to Noah, ^(O)by twos of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. ¹⁶ Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed the door behind him.

¹⁷ Then the flood ^[l]came upon the earth for ^(P)forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. ¹⁸ The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark ^[m]floated on the ^[n]surface of the water. ¹⁹ And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains ^[o]everywhere under the heavens were covered. ²⁰ The water prevailed ^[p]fifteen cubits higher, ^(Q)and the mountains were covered. ²¹ So ^(R)all ^[q]creatures that moved on the earth perished: birds, livestock, animals, and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; ²² of all that was on the dry land, all ^(S)in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. ²³ So He wiped out ^[r]every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from mankind to animals, to crawling things, and the birds of the sky, and they were wiped out from the earth; and only ^(T)Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. ^24 (U)The water prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.

The Impartiality of God

2 Therefore you have ^(A)no excuse, ^[a]you foolish person, ^(B)everyone of you who passes judgment; for ^[b]in that matter in which ^(C)you judge someone else, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ² And we know that the judgment of God ^[c]rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³ But do you suppose this, ^[d](D)you foolish person who passes judgment on those who practice such things, and yet does them as well, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you think lightly of ^(E)the riches of His ^(F)kindness and ^[e](G)restraint and ^(H)patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵ But ^[f]because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart ^(I)you are storing up wrath for yourself ^(J)on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ^6 (K)who will repay each person according to his deeds: ⁷ to those who by ^(L)perseverance in doing good seek ^(M)glory, honor, and ^(N)immortality, He will give ^(O)eternal life; ⁸ but to those who are ^(P)self-serving and ^(Q)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation. ⁹ There will be ^(R)tribulation and distress ^[g]for every soul of mankind who does evil, ^[h]for the Jew ^(S)first and also ^[i]for the Greek, ¹⁰ but ^(T)glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does what is good, to the Jew ^(U)first and also to the Greek. ¹¹ For ^(V)there is no partiality with God.

¹² For all who have sinned ^[j](W)without the Law will also perish ^[k]without the Law, and all who have sinned ^[l]under the Law will be judged ^[m]by the Law; ¹³ for it is ^(X)not the hearers ^[n]of the Law who are ^[o]righteous before God, but the doers ^[p]of the Law who will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles who do not have ^[q]the Law ^[r](Y)instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having ^[s]the Law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ in that they show ^(Z)the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, ¹⁶ on the day when, ^(AA)according to my gospel, ^(AB)God will judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus.

The Jews under the Law

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a ^[t]Jew and ^(AC)rely ^[u]upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will and ^[v](AD)distinguish the things that matter, being instructed from the Law, ¹⁹ and are confident that you yourself are a guide to people who are blind, a light to those in darkness, ²⁰ a ^[w]corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ^[x]the immature, possessing in the Law ^(AE)the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth— ²¹ you, therefore, ^(AF)who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who ^[y]preach that one is not to steal, do you steal? ²² You who say that one is not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you ^(AG)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(AH)boast ^[z]in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴ For “^(AI)the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles ^(AJ)because of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵ For indeed circumcision is of value if you ^(AK)practice ^[aa]the Law; but if you are a violator ^[ab]of the Law, ^(AL)your circumcision has turned into uncircumcision. ^26 (AM)So if ^(AN)the ^[ac]uncircumcised man ^(AO)keeps the requirements of the Law, will his uncircumcision not be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷ And ^(AP)he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not ^(AQ)judge you who ^[ad]though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a violator ^[ae]of the Law? ²⁸ For ^(AR)he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹ But ^(AS)he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and ^(AT)circumcision is of the heart, by the ^(AU)Spirit, not by the letter; ^(AV)and his praise is not from people, but from God.