The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,^(A) during the time of King Herod,^(B) Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?^(C) We saw his star^(D) when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem^(E) in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.^(G) Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts^(H) of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned^(I) in a dream^(J) not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

¹³ When they had gone, an angel^(K) of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.^(L) “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”^(M)

¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled^(N) what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”^[c](O)

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:^(P)

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel^(S) of the Lord appeared in a dream^(T) to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”^(U)

²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream,^(V) he withdrew to the district of Galilee,^{(W) 23} and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.^(X) So was fulfilled^(Y) what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.^(Z)

Wickedness in the World

6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth^(A) and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God^(B) saw that the daughters^(C) of humans were beautiful,^(D) and they married^(E) any of them they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit^(F) will not contend with^[a] humans forever,^(G) for they are mortal^[b];^(H) their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

⁴ The Nephilim^(I) were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans^(J) and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.^(K)

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,^(L) and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.^{(M) 6} The Lord regretted^(N) that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth^(O) the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.^(P)” ⁸ But Noah^(Q) found favor in the eyes of the Lord.^(R)

Noah and the Flood

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

Noah was a righteous man, blameless^(T) among the people of his time,^(U) and he walked faithfully with God.^{(V) 10} Noah had three sons: Shem,^(W) Ham and Japheth.^(X)

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt^(Y) in God’s sight and was full of violence.^{(Z) 12} God saw how corrupt^(AA) the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.^{(AB) 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^(AC) both them and the earth.^{(AD) 14} So make yourself an ark of cypress^[c] wood;^(AE) make rooms in it and coat it with pitch^(AF) 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.^{[d] 16} Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit^[e] high all around.^[f] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters^(AG) 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.^{(AH) 18} But I will establish my covenant with you,^(AI) and you will enter the ark^(AJ)—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.^{(AK) 20} Two^(AL) of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind^(AM) of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.^{(AN) 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.^(AO)

7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family,^(AP) because I have found you righteous^(AQ) in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean^(AR) animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive^(AS) throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain^(AT) on the earth^(AU) for forty days^(AV) and forty nights,^(AW) and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.^(AX)”

⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.^(AY)

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old^(AZ) when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark^(BA) to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean^(BB) animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.^{(BC) 10} And after the seven days^(BD) the floodwaters came on the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,^(BE) on the seventeenth day of the second month^(BF)—on that day all the springs of the great deep^(BG) burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens^(BH) were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.^(BI)

¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons,^(BJ) Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.^{(BK) 14} They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind,^(BL) everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.^{(BM) 16} The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.^(BN) Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ For forty days^(BO) the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.^{(BP) 20} The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.^{[g][h] (BQ) 21} Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.^{(BR) 22} Everything on dry land that had the breath of life^(BS) in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.^(BT) Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.^(BU)

²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.^(BV)