Noah and the Flood

⁹ This is the account^(A) of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless^(B) among the people of his time,^(C) and he walked faithfully with God.^{(D) 10} Noah had three sons: Shem,^(E) Ham and Japheth.^(F)

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt^(G) in God’s sight and was full of violence.^{(H) 12} God saw how corrupt^(I) the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.^{(J) 13} So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy^(K) both them and the earth.^{(L) 14} So make yourself an ark of cypress^[a] wood;^(M) make rooms in it and coat it with pitch^(N) inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.^{[b] 16} Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit^[c] high all around.^[d] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters^(O) on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.^{(P) 18} But I will establish my covenant with you,^(Q) and you will enter the ark^(R)—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.^{(S) 20} Two^(T) of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind^(U) of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.^{(V) 21} You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.^(W)

⁶ After forty days^(A) Noah opened a window he had made in the ark ⁷ and sent out a raven,^(B) and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.^{(C) 8} Then he sent out a dove^(D) to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.^{(E) 12} He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you^(A) and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant^(B) with you:^(C) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.^(D)”

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant^(E) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:^{(F) 13} I have set my rainbow^(G) in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow^(H) appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant^(I) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.^{(J) 16} Whenever the rainbow^(K) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant^(L) between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant^(M) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled,^(A) Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds^(B) about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” ⁶ So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. ⁷ He took six hundred of the best chariots,^(C) along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried^(A) out to the Lord. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?^(B) What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”^(C)

¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid.^(D) Stand firm and you will see^(E) the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see^(F) again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight^(G) for you; you need only to be still.”^(H)

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand^(A) over the sea,^(B) and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind^(C) and turned it into dry land.^(D) The waters were divided,^{(E) 22} and the Israelites went through the sea^(F) on dry ground,^(G) with a wall^(H) of water on their right and on their left.

²³ The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen^(I) followed them into the sea. ²⁴ During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud^(J) at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.^{(K) 25} He jammed^[a] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting^(L) for them against Egypt.”^(M)

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place.^(N) The Egyptians were fleeing toward^[b] it, and the Lord swept them into the sea.^{(O) 28} The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea.^(P) Not one of them survived.^(Q)

²⁹ But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground,^(R) with a wall^(S) of water on their right and on their left.

Naaman Healed of Leprosy

5 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram.^(A) He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.^[a](B)

² Now bands of raiders^(C) from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet^(D) who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

⁴ Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. ⁵ “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents^[b] of silver, six thousand shekels^[c] of gold and ten sets of clothing.^{(E) 6} The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

⁷ As soon as the king of Israel read the letter,^(F) he tore his robes and said, “Am I God?^(G) Can I kill and bring back to life?^(H) Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel^(I) with me!”

⁸ When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet^(J) in Israel.” ⁹ So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash^(K) yourself seven times^(L) in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

¹¹ But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand^(M) over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters^(N) of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.^(O)

¹³ Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father,^(P) if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times,^(Q) as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored^(R) and became clean like that of a young boy.^(S)

¹⁵ Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God^(T). He stood before him and said, “Now I know^(U) that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift^(V) from your servant.”

Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

4 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes,^(A) put on sackcloth and ashes,^(B) and went out into the city, wailing^(C) loudly and bitterly. ² But he went only as far as the king’s gate,^(D) because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. ³ In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ⁵ Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

⁶ So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. ⁷ Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.^{(E) 8} He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

⁹ Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰ Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, ¹¹ “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned^(F) the king has but one law:^(G) that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter^(H) to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

¹² When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, ¹³ he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent^(I) at this time, relief^(J) and deliverance^(K) for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”^(L)

¹⁵ Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast^(M) for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”^(N)

¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

The Guard at the Tomb

⁶² The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³ “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’^{(A) 64} So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body^(B) and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ “Take a guard,”^(C) Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal^(D) on the stone^(E) and posting the guard.^(F)

Jesus Has Risen^(G)

28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene^(H) and the other Mary^(I) went to look at the tomb.

² There was a violent earthquake,^(J) for an angel^(K) of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone^(L) and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.^{(M) 4} The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid,^(N) for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.^(O) Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.^(P) There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them.^(Q) “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers^(R) to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”