A Father's Wise Instruction

The Flood Subsides

8 But God ^(A)remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And ^(B)God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. ^2 (C)The fountains of the deep and ^(D)the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, ³ and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end ^(E)of 150 days the waters had abated, ⁴ and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of ^(F)Ararat. ⁵ And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

⁶ At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made ⁷ and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. ¹¹ And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

¹³ In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. ¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Go out from the ark, ^(G)you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and ^(H)be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. ¹⁹ Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

God's Covenant with Noah

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ And when the Lord smelled ^(I)the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again ^(J)curse^[a] the ground because of man, for ^(K)the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. ^(L)Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. ^22 (M)While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, ^(N)day and night, shall not cease.”

9 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ^(O)“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. ^2 (P)The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. ^3 (Q)Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And ^(R)as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. ⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its ^(S)life, that is, its blood. ⁵ And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: ^(T)from every beast I will require it and ^(U)from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

⁷ And you,^[b] be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ “Behold, ^(X)I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. ^11 (Y)I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² And God said, ^(Z)“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: ¹³ I have set ^(AA)my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ^15 (AB)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. ¹⁶ When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember ^(AC)the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 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's Descendants

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were ^(AD)Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah, and ^(AE)from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.^[c]

²⁰ Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.^{[d] 21} He drank of the wine and became drunk and 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 backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine ^(AF)and knew what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

²⁶ He also said,

²⁸ After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

The Lame Beggar Healed

3 Now Peter and John were ^(A)going up to the temple at ^(B)the hour of prayer, ^(C)the ninth hour.^{[a] 2} And a man ^(D)lame from birth was being carried, ^(E)whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate ^(F)to ask alms of those entering the temple. ³ Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. ⁴ And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” ⁵ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, ^(G)“I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. ^(H)In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” ⁷ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. ⁸ And ^(I)leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹ And ^(J)all the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter Speaks in Solomon's Portico

^11 (K)While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in ^(L)the portico called Solomon's. ¹² And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? ^13 (M)The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, ^(N)the God of our fathers, ^(O)glorified his servant^[b] Jesus, whom ^(P)you delivered over and ^(Q)denied in the presence of Pilate, ^(R)when he had decided to release him. ¹⁴ But you denied ^(S)the Holy and ^(T)Righteous One, and ^(U)asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and you killed ^(V)the Author of life, ^(W)whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And ^(X)his name—by ^(Y)faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is ^(Z)through Jesus^[c] has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷ “And now, brothers, I know that ^(AA)you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But what God ^(AB)foretold ^(AC)by the mouth of all the prophets, that ^(AD)his Christ would ^(AE)suffer, he thus fulfilled. ^19 (AF)Repent therefore, and ^(AG)turn back, that ^(AH)your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰ that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ ^(AI)appointed for you, Jesus, ^21 (AJ)whom heaven must receive until the time for ^(AK)restoring all the things about which ^(AL)God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. ²² Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you ^(AM)a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen ^(AN)to him in whatever he tells you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet ^(AO)shall be destroyed from the people.’ ²⁴ And ^(AP)all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. ^25 (AQ)You are the sons of the prophets and of ^(AR)the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ^(AS)‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ^26 (AT)God, ^(AU)having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, ^(AV)to bless you ^(AW)by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”