The 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 dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. ³ Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.^{(B) 4} Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.^{(C) 5} For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life.^(D)

⁷ “And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and have dominion over^[a] it.”^(F)

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you^{(G) 10} and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.^{[b](H) 11} I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”^{(I) 12} God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:^{(J) 13} I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.^{(K) 14} When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.^{(L) 16} When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”^{(M) 17} God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Noah and His Sons

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.^{(N) 19} These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was peopled.^(O)

²⁰ Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.^{(P) 24} When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

²⁶ He also said,

²⁸ After the flood Noah lived three hundred fifty years. ²⁹ All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, and he died.

Nations Descended from Noah

10 These are the descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; children were born to them after the flood.

² The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.^{(T) 3} The descendants of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The descendants of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.^{[d] 5} From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the descendants of Japheth^[e] in their lands, with their own language, by their families, in their nations.^(U)

⁶ The descendants of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.^{(V) 7} The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ⁸ Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”^{(W) 10} The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar.^{(X) 11} From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and ¹² Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ¹³ Egypt became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,^{(Y) 14} Pathrusim, Casluhim, from whom the Philistines come, and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth^{(Z) 16} and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷ the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.^{(AA) 19} And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.^{(AB) 20} These are the descendants of Ham, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

²¹ To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. ²² The descendants of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.^{(AC) 23} The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.^{(AD) 24} Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber.^{(AE) 25} To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg,^[f] for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan.^{(AF) 26} Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,^{(AG) 27} Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the descendants of Joktan. ³⁰ The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, the hill country of the east. ³¹ These are the descendants of Shem, by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

³² These are the families of Noah’s sons, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.^(AH)

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as they migrated from the east,^[g] they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.^{(AI) 3} And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”^{(AJ) 5} The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.^{(AK) 6} And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.^{(AL) 7} Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”^{(AM) 8} So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.^{(AN) 9} Therefore it was called Babel,^[h] because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.^(AO)

Descendants of Shem

¹⁰ These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood,^{(AP) 11} and Shem lived after the birth of Arpachshad five hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah, ¹³ and Arpachshad lived after the birth of Shelah four hundred three years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber, ¹⁵ and Shelah lived after the birth of Eber four hundred three years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg, ¹⁷ and Eber lived after the birth of Peleg four hundred thirty years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu, ¹⁹ and Peleg lived after the birth of Reu two hundred nine years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug, ²¹ and Reu lived after the birth of Serug two hundred seven years and had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor, ²³ and Serug lived after the birth of Nahor two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah, ²⁵ and Nahor lived after the birth of Terah one hundred nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Descendants of Terah

²⁷ Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.^(AQ)

³¹ Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.^{(AR) 32} The days of Terah were two hundred five years, and Terah died in Haran.

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.^{(A) 2} He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:^{(B) 3} “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell on a path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”^{(C) 9} And he said, “If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^(D)

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret^[a] of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables,^{(E) 12} in order that

¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.^{(G) 16} And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But they have no root and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.^{[b] 18} And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the age and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²⁰ And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp under a Bushel Basket

²¹ He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket or under the bed and not on the lampstand? ²² For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.^{(H) 23} If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^{(I) 24} And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and it will be added to you.^{(J) 25} For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”^(K)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground^{(L) 27} and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. ²⁸ The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”^(M)

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?^{(N) 31} It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Use of Parables

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it;^{(O) 34} he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.^(P)

Jesus Stills a Storm

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.^{(Q) 37} A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”^{(R) 41} And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”