God’s Covenant with Noah

9 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.^{(A) 2} The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. ³ Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you;^(B) as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.^{(C) 4} However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.^{(D) 5} And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood;^[a] I will require it from any animal^(E) and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life.^(F)

⁷ But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”^(I)

⁸ Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, ⁹ “Understand that I am establishing my covenant^(J) with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”^(K)

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant^(L) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: ¹³ I have placed my bow in the clouds,^(M) and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant^(N) between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. ¹⁶ The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant^(O) between God and all the living creatures on earth.” ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.”

Prophecies about Noah’s Family

¹⁸ Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.^(P)

²⁰ Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting^[b] a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.^{(Q) 23} Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.

²⁴ When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said:

²⁶ He also said:

²⁸ Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. ²⁹ So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died.

The Table of Nations

10 These are the family records^(T) of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They also had sons after the flood.

² Japheth’s sons:^(U) Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ And Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish,^(V) Kittim, and Dodanim.^{[e] 5} From these descendants, the peoples of the coasts and islands spread out into their lands according to their clans in their nations, each with its own language.

⁶ Ham’s sons:^(W) Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.

⁸ Cush fathered Nimrod, who began to be powerful in the land. ⁹ He was a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful hunter in the sight of the Lord.” ¹⁰ His kingdom started with Babylon,^(X) Erech,^[f] Accad,^[g] and Calneh,^[h] in the land of Shinar.^{[i](Y) 11} From that land he went to Assyria^(Z) and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

¹³ Mizraim^[j](AA) fathered the people of Lud, Anam, Lehab, Naphtuh, ¹⁴ Pathrus, Casluh (the Philistines came from them), and Caphtor.^(AB)

¹⁵ Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, ¹⁶ as well as the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,^{(AC) 17} the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the Canaanite clans scattered. ¹⁹ The Canaanite border went from Sidon going toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and going toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.

²⁰ These are Ham’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

²¹ And Shem, Japheth’s older brother, also had sons. Shem was the father of all the sons of Eber.^{(AD) 22} Shem’s sons^(AE) were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

²³ Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

²⁴ Arpachshad fathered^[k] Shelah,^(AF) and Shelah fathered Eber. ²⁵ Eber had two sons. One was named Peleg,^[l] for during his days the earth was divided;^(AG) his brother was named Joktan. ²⁶ And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were Joktan’s sons. ³⁰ Their settlements extended from Mesha to Sephar, the eastern hill country.

³¹ These are Shem’s sons by their clans, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

³² These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their family records, in their nations. The nations on earth spread out from these after the flood.^(AH)

The Tower of Babylon

11 The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. ² As people migrated from the east,^[m] they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{(AI) 3} They said to each other, “Come, let’s make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt^(AJ) for mortar.) ⁴ And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky.^(AK) Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”

⁵ Then the Lord came down^(AL) to look over the city and the tower that the humans^[n] were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth,^(AM) and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore it is called Babylon,^[o][p](AN) for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.

From Shem to Abram

¹⁰ These are the family records^(AO) of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. ¹¹ After he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹² Arpachshad lived 35 years^[q] and fathered Shelah. ¹³ After he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber. ¹⁵ After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁶ Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg. ¹⁷ After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁸ Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu. ¹⁹ After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug. ²¹ After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²² Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor. ²³ After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁴ Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah.^{(AP) 25} After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁶ Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸ Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai,^(AQ) and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah.^(AR) She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Sarai was unable to conceive;^(AS) she did not have a child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans^(AT) to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. ³² Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again^(A) he began to teach^(B) by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around him. So he got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore. ² He taught them many things in parables,^(C) and in his teaching^(D) he said to them, ³ “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow.^{(E) 4} As he sowed, some seed fell along the path,^(F) and the birds came and devoured^(G) it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly,^(H) since the soil wasn’t deep. ⁶ When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.^{(I) 7} Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased^(J) thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”^{(K) 9} Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”^(L)

Why Jesus Used Parables

¹⁰ When he was alone, those around him with the Twelve^(M) asked him about the parables.^{(N) 11} He answered them, “The secret^(O) of the kingdom of God^(P) has been given to you, but to those outside,^(Q) everything comes in parables ¹² so that

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹³ Then^(T) he said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable?^(U) How then will you understand all of the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows^(V) the word.^{(W) 15} Some are like the word sown on the path.^(X) When they hear, immediately Satan^(Y) comes and takes away the word^(Z) sown in them.^{[c] 16} And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.^{(AA) 17} But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress^(AB) or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.^{(AC) 18} Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the worries^(AD) of this age,^(AE) the deceitfulness^[d](AF) of wealth,^(AG) and the desires^(AH) for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.^{(AI) 20} And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word,^(AJ) welcome it, and produce fruit^(AK) thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”

Using Your Light

²¹ He^(AL) also said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed?^(AM) Isn’t it to be put on a lampstand?^{(AN) 22} For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed,^(AO) and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light. ²³ If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.”^{(AP) 24} And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure^(AQ) you use,^(AR) it will be measured to you—and more will be added^(AS) to you. ²⁵ For whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”^(AT)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ “The kingdom of God^(AU) is like this,” he said. “A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps^(AV) and rises^(AW) night^(AX) and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how. ²⁸ The soil produces a crop^(AY) by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain^(AZ) on the head. ²⁹ As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle,^(BA) because the harvest^(BB) has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ And^(BC) he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God,^(BD) or what parable^(BE) can we use to describe it? ³¹ It’s like a mustard seed^(BF) that, when sown upon the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds on the ground. ³² And when sown,^(BG) it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants,^(BH) and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky^(BI) can nest in its shade.”

Using Parables

³³ He was speaking the word^(BJ) to them with many parables^(BK) like these, as they were able to understand.^{(BL) 34} He did not speak to them without a parable. Privately, however, he explained everything to his own disciples.^(BM)

Wind and Waves Obey Jesus

³⁵ On^(BN) that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” ³⁶ So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ A great windstorm^(BO) arose, and the waves^(BP) were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ He was in the stern, sleeping^(BQ) on the cushion. So they woke him up^(BR) and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” ^(BS)

³⁹ He got up, rebuked^(BT) the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence!^(BU) Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid?^(BV) Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹ And they were terrified^[e](BW) and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey^(BX) him!” ^(BY)