God’s Promise to Noah

9 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ^(A)“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ^2 (B)And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. ^3 (C)Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you ^(D)all things, even as the ^(E)green herbs. ^4 (F)But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. ⁵ Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; ^(G)from the hand of every beast I will require it, and ^(H)from the hand of man. From the hand of every ^(I)man’s brother I will require the life of man.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: ⁹ “And as for Me, ^(M)behold, I establish ^(N)My covenant with you and with your ^[a]descendants after you, ^10 (O)and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. ¹¹ Thus ^(P)I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said: ^(Q)“This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set ^(R)My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and ^(S)I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember ^(T)the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Noah and His Sons

¹⁸ Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ^(U)And Ham was the father of Canaan. ^19 (V)These three were the sons of Noah, ^(W)and from these the whole earth was populated.

²⁰ And Noah began to be ^(X)a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ Then he drank of the wine ^(Y)and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ^23 (Z)But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were ^[b]turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴ So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. ²⁵ Then he said:

²⁶ And he said:

²⁸ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

Nations Descended from Noah^(AF)

10 Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ^(AG)And sons were born to them after the flood.

^2 (AH)The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, ^[c]Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and ^[d]Dodanim. ⁵ From these ^(AI)the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

^6 (AJ)The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, ^[e]Put, and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

⁸ Cush begot ^(AK)Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty ^(AL)hunter ^(AM)before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” ^10 (AN)And the beginning of his kingdom was ^(AO)Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went ^(AP)to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).

¹³ Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ Pathrusim, and Casluhim ^(AQ)(from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim).

¹⁵ Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and ^(AR)Heth; ^16 (AS)the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; ¹⁷ the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; ¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. ^19 (AT)And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.

²¹ And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, ^[f]the brother of Japheth the elder. ²² The ^(AU)sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, ^(AV)Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and ^[g]Mash. ^24 [h]Arphaxad begot ^(AW)Salah, and Salah begot Eber. ^25 (AX)To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was ^[i]Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ^28 [j]Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. ³¹ These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

^32 (AY)These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; ^(AZ)and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and one ^[k]speech. ² And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land ^(BA)of Shinar, and they dwelt there. ³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and ^[l]bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴ And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower ^(BB)whose top is in the heavens; let us make a ^(BC)name for ourselves, lest we ^(BD)be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

^5 (BE)But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Indeed ^(BF)the people are one and they all have ^(BG)one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they ^(BH)propose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷ Come, ^(BI)let Us go down and there ^(BJ)confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So ^(BK)the Lord scattered them abroad from there ^(BL)over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name is called ^[m]Babel, ^(BM)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.

Shem’s Descendants^(BN)

^10 (BO)This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. ¹¹ After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹² Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, ^(BP)and begot Salah. ¹³ After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. ¹⁵ After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

^16 (BQ)Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot ^(BR)Peleg. ¹⁷ After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁸ Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. ¹⁹ After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot ^(BS)Serug. ²¹ After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

²² Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. ²³ After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot ^(BT)Terah. ²⁵ After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁶ Now Terah lived seventy years, and ^(BU)begot ^[n]Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Terah’s Descendants

²⁷ This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot ^(BV)Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. ²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was ^(BW)Sarai,^[o] and the name of Nahor’s wife, ^(BX)Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. ³⁰ But ^(BY)Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ And Terah ^(BZ)took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from ^(CA)Ur of the Chaldeans to go to ^(CB)the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. ³² So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Promises to Abram^(CC)

12 Now the ^(CD)Lord had said to Abram:

⁴ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and ^(CL)the ^[p]people whom they had acquired ^(CM)in Haran, and they ^(CN)departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram ^(CO)passed through the land to the place of Shechem, ^(CP)as far as ^[q]the terebinth tree of Moreh. ^(CQ)And the Canaanites were then in the land.

^7 (CR)Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(CS)“To your ^[r]descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an ^(CT)altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and ^(CU)called on the name of the Lord. ⁹ So Abram journeyed, ^(CV)going on still toward the ^[s]South.

Abram in Egypt

¹⁰ Now there was ^(CW)a famine in the land, and Abram ^(CX)went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was ^(CY)severe in the land. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are ^(CZ)a woman of beautiful countenance. ¹² Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they ^(DA)will kill me, but they will let you live. ^13 (DB)Please say you are my ^(DC)sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that ^[t]I may live because of you.”

¹⁴ So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ He ^(DD)treated Abram well for her sake. He ^(DE)had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord ^(DF)plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ And Pharaoh called Abram and said, ^(DG)“What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” ^20 (DH)So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way^(A)

3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^(B)Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ^2 [a]while ^(C)Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to ^(D)John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. ^3 (E)And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance ^(F)for the remission of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

John Preaches to the People^(I)

⁷ Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, ^(J)“Brood^[b] of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore bear fruits ^(K)worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ⁹ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore ^(L)every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ So the people asked him, saying, ^(M)“What shall we do then?”

¹¹ He answered and said to them, ^(N)“He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, ^(O)let him do likewise.”

¹² Then ^(P)tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

¹³ And he said to them, ^(Q)“Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”

¹⁴ Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”

So he said to them, “Do not ^[c]intimidate anyone ^(R)or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, ¹⁶ John answered, saying to all, ^(S)“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will ^(T)baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and ^(U)gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. ^19 (V)But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his ^[d]brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, ²⁰ also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.

John Baptizes Jesus^(W)

²¹ When all the people were baptized, ^(X)it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. ²² And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am ^(Y)well pleased.”

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ^(Z)

²³ Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at ^(AA)about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) ^(AB)the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, ²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, ²⁵ the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶ the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, ²⁷ the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of ^(AC)Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸ the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, ²⁹ the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰ the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, ³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of ^(AD)Nathan, ^(AE)the son of David, ^32 (AF)the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, ³³ the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴ the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, ^(AG)the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵ the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, ^36 (AH)the son of Cainan, the son of ^(AI)Arphaxad, ^(AJ)the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸ the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, ^(AK)the son of God.