The Flood Recedes

8 God remembered Noah,^(A) as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth,^(B) and the water began to subside. ² The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped.^{(C) 3} The water steadily receded from the earth, and by the end of 150 days the water had decreased significantly.^{(D) 4} The ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.^(E)

⁵ The water continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible. ⁶ After forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made, ⁷ and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove to see whether the water on the earth’s surface had gone down, ⁹ but the dove found no resting place for its foot. It returned to him in the ark because water covered the surface of the whole earth. He reached out and brought it into the ark to himself. ¹⁰ So Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove from the ark again. ¹¹ When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in its beak. So Noah knew that the water on the earth’s surface had gone down. ¹² After he had waited another seven days, he sent out the dove, but it did not return to him again. ¹³ In the six hundred first year,^[a] in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water that had covered the earth was dried up. Then Noah removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.

The Lord’s Promise

¹⁵ Then God spoke to Noah, ¹⁶ “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the earth—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”^{(F) 18} So Noah, along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, came out. ¹⁹ All the animals, all the creatures that crawl, and all the flying creatures—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark by their families.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma,^(G) he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground^(H) because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward.^(I) And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.^(J)

A Man Cleansed

8 When he came down from the mountain, large crowds^(A) followed him. ² Right away^(B) a man with leprosy^[a] came up and knelt before him,^(C) saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

³ Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴ Then Jesus told him, “See that you don’t tell anyone;^(D) but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”^(E)

A Centurion’s Faith

⁵ When he entered Capernaum,^(F) a centurion came to him, pleading with him, ⁶ “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.”

⁷ He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?”^[b]

⁸ “Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.^{(G) 9} For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command.^[c] I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith. ¹¹ I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet^[d] with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.^{(H) 12} But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”^{(I) 13} Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed,^(J) let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.^[e]

Healings at Capernaum

¹⁴ Jesus went into Peter’s house^(K) and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. ¹⁵ So he touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve him. ¹⁶ When evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed. He drove out the spirits^(L) with a word and healed all who were sick,^{(M) 17} so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

The Cost of Following Jesus

¹⁸ When Jesus saw a large crowd^[g](O) around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea. ¹⁹ A scribe approached him and said,^(P) “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰ Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man^(Q) has no place to lay his head.”

²¹ “Lord,” another of his disciples said, “first let me go bury my father.”

²² But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Wind and Waves Obey Jesus

²³ As he got into the boat,^(R) his disciples^(S) followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. ²⁵ So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”

²⁶ He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea,^(T) and there was a great calm.

²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey^(U) him!”

Demons Driven Out by Jesus

²⁸ When he had come to the other side,^(V) to the region of the Gadarenes,^[h] two demon-possessed men met him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ Suddenly they shouted, “What do you have to do with us,^[i] Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” ^(W)

³⁰ A long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹ “If you drive us out,” the demons begged him, “send us into the herd of pigs.”

³² “Go!” he told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water. ³³ Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed. ³⁴ At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.^(X)

Those Returning with Ezra

8 These are the family heads and the genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:^(A)

¹⁵ I gathered them at the river^[e] that flows to Ahava,^(G) and we camped there for three days. I searched among the people and priests, but found no Levites^(H) there. ¹⁶ Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam,^(I) as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan. ¹⁷ I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, with a message for^[f] him and his brothers, the temple servants^(J) at Casiphia, that they should bring us ministers for the house of our God. ¹⁸ Since the gracious hand of our God was on us,^(K) they brought us Sherebiah^(L)—a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli, a descendant of Levi son of Israel—along with his sons and brothers, 18 men, ¹⁹ plus Hashabiah,^(M) along with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men. ²⁰ There were also 220 of the temple servants,^(N) who had been appointed by David and the leaders for the work of the Levites. All were identified by name.

Preparing to Return

²¹ I proclaimed a fast^(O) by the Ahava River,^[g] so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us, our dependents, and all our possessions. ²² I did this because I was ashamed to ask the king for infantry and cavalry to protect us from enemies during the journey, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his fierce anger is against all who abandon him.”^{(P) 23} So we fasted and pleaded with our God about this, and he was receptive to our prayer.

²⁴ I selected twelve of the leading priests, along with Sherebiah,^(Q) Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers. ²⁵ I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the articles—the contribution for the house of our God that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites who were present had offered. ²⁶ I weighed out to them 24 tons^[h] of silver, silver articles weighing 7,500 pounds,^[i] 7,500 pounds of gold, ²⁷ twenty gold bowls worth a thousand gold coins,^[j] and two articles of fine gleaming bronze, as valuable as gold.^{(R) 28} Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the articles are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering^(S) to the Lord God of your ancestors. ²⁹ Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the Lord’s house before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families in Jerusalem.” ³⁰ So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver, the gold, and the articles that had been weighed out, to bring them to the house of our God in Jerusalem.^(T)

Arrival in Jerusalem

³¹ We set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. We were strengthened by our God,^[k](U) and he kept us from the grasp of the enemy and from ambush along the way.^{(V) 32} So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.^{(W) 33} On the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the articles were weighed out in the house of our God into the care of the priest Meremoth son of Uriah. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him. The Levites Jozabad^(X) son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui were also with them. ³⁴ Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.

³⁵ The exiles who had returned from the captivity^(Y) offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, and seventy-seven lambs, along with twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering for the Lord.^{(Z) 36} They also delivered the king’s edicts to the royal satraps and governors of the region west of the Euphrates,^(AA) so that they would support the people and the house of God.^(AB)

Saul the Persecutor

8 Saul agreed with putting him to death.

On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.^{(A) 2} Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him. ³ Saul,^(B) however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.^(C)

Philip in Samaria

⁴ So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word. ⁵ Philip went down to a^[a] city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.^{(D) 6} The crowds were all paying attention to what Philip said, as they listened and saw the signs he was performing. ⁷ For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.^{(E) 8} So there was great joy in that city.

The Response of Simon

⁹ A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and amazed the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great.^{(F) 10} They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God.”^{[b](G) 11} They were attentive to him because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time. ¹² But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.^{(H) 13} Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles^(I) that were being performed.

Simon’s Sin

¹⁴ When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.^{(J) 15} After they went down there, they prayed for them so that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them. ¹⁶ (They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.^(K)) ¹⁷ Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ When Simon saw that the Spirit^[c] was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give me this power also so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰ But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!^{(L) 21} You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God.^{(M) 22} Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven. ²³ For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.”^(N)

²⁴ “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”^(O)

²⁵ So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

The Conversion of the Ethiopian Official

²⁶ An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.^[d](P)) ²⁷ So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch^(Q) and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem^{(R) 28} and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

²⁹ The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”^(S)

³⁰ When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.^(U)

³⁶ As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water. What would keep me from being baptized?” ^{[f] 38} So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord^(V) carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ Philip appeared in^[g] Azotus,^[h] and he was traveling and preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.^(W)