Entering the Ark

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.^{(A) 2} You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals,^(B) and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female, ³ and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing I have made I will wipe off the face of the earth.” ⁵ And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.^(C)

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came and water covered the earth. ⁷ So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the floodwaters. ⁸ From the animals that are clean, and from the animals that are not clean, and from the birds and every creature that crawls on the ground, ⁹ two of each, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, just as God had commanded him. ¹⁰ Seven days later the floodwaters came on the earth.

The Flood

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the vast watery depths burst open,^(D) the floodgates of the sky were opened,^{(E) 12} and the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. ¹³ On that same day Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, entered the ark, along with Noah’s wife and his three sons’ wives. ¹⁴ They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, all the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, every flying creature—all the birds and every winged creature—according to their kinds. ¹⁵ Two of every creature that has the breath of life in it came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ Those that entered, male and female of every creature, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ The flood continued for forty days on the earth; the water increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. ¹⁸ The water surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ Then the water surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. ²⁰ The mountains were covered as the water surged above them more than twenty feet.^{[a] 21} Every creature perished—those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind. ²² Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils^(F)—everything on dry land died. ²³ He wiped out every living thing that was on the face of the earth, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.^{(G) 24} And the water surged on the earth 150 days.

Do Not Judge

7 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.^{(A) 2} For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.^{(B) 3} Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?^{(C) 4} Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye. ⁶ Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs,^(D) or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

Ask, Search, Knock

⁷ “Ask,^(E) and it will be given to you.^(F) Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door^[a] will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds,^(G) and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹ Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil,^(H) know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him. ¹² Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.^(I)

Entering the Kingdom

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate.^(J) For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,^(K) and there are many who go through it. ¹⁴ How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

¹⁵ “Be on your guard against false prophets^(L) who come to you in sheep’s^(M) clothing^(N) but inwardly are ravaging wolves.^{(O) 16} You’ll recognize them by their fruit.^(P) Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?^{(Q) 17} In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.^{(R) 20} So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.^(S)

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,^(T) but only the one who does the will^(U) of my Father in heaven.^{(V) 22} On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons^(W) in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’^{(X) 23} Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’^[b][c](Y)

The Two Foundations

²⁴ “Therefore,^(Z) everyone who hears these words^(AA) of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things,^(AB) the crowds were astonished at his teaching,^{(AC) 29} because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.

Ezra’s Arrival

7 After these events, during the reign of King Artaxerxes^(A) of Persia, Ezra—

⁶ —came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses,^(F) which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he requested^(G) because the hand of the Lord his God was on him.^{(H) 7} Some of the Israelites, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants^(I) accompanied him to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

⁸ Ezra^[a] came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, during the seventh year of the king. ⁹ He began the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month^(J) and arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month^(K) since the gracious hand of his God was on him.^{(L) 10} Now Ezra had determined in his heart to study the law of the Lord, obey it, and teach^(M) its statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Letter from Artaxerxes

¹¹ This is the text of the letter King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest and scribe, an expert in matters of the Lord’s commands and statutes for Israel:^[b]

¹² Artaxerxes, king of kings,^(N) to Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of the heavens:

Greetings.

¹³ I issue a decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including their priests and Levites, who want to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.^{(O) 14} You are sent by the king and his seven counselors^(P) to evaluate Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your possession. ¹⁵ You are also to bring the silver and gold the king and his counselors have willingly given to the God of Israel,^(Q) whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,^{(R) 16} and all the silver and gold you receive throughout the province of Babylon, together with the freewill offerings given by the people and the priests to the house of their God in Jerusalem.^{(S) 17} Then you are to be diligent to buy with this money bulls, rams, and lambs, along with their grain and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar at the house of your God in Jerusalem.^{(T) 18} You may do whatever seems best to you and your brothers with the rest of the silver and gold, according to the will of your God. ¹⁹ Deliver to the God of Jerusalem all the articles given to you for the service of the house of your God.^{(U) 20} You may use the royal treasury^[c] to pay for anything else needed for the house of your God.^(V)

²¹ I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers in the region west of the Euphrates River:^(W)

Whatever Ezra the priest, an expert in the law of the God of the heavens, asks of you must be provided in full,^{(X) 22} up to 7,500 pounds^[d] of silver, 500 bushels^[e] of wheat, 550 gallons^[f] of wine, 550 gallons of oil, and salt without limit.^{[g] 23} Whatever is commanded by the God of the heavens must be done diligently for the house of the God of the heavens, so that wrath will not fall on the realm of the king and his sons.^{(Y) 24} Be advised that you do not have authority to impose tribute, duty, and land tax on any priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵ And you, Ezra, according to^[h] God’s wisdom that you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people in the region west of the Euphrates who know the laws of your God and to teach anyone who does not know them.^{(Z) 26} Anyone who does not keep the law of your God and the law of the king, let the appropriate judgment be executed against him, whether death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.^(AA)

²⁷ Blessed be the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who has put it into the king’s mind^(AB) to glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,^{(AC) 28} and who has shown favor to me before the king,^(AD) his counselors, and all his powerful officers. So I took courage because I was strengthened by the hand of the Lord my God,^[i](AE) and I gathered Israelite leaders to return with me.^(AF)

Stephen’s Sermon

7 “Are these things true?” the high priest asked.

² “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,^{(A) 3} and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.^[a](B)

⁴ “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living.^{(C) 5} He didn’t give him an inheritance in it—not even a foot of ground—but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him,^(D) even though he was childless. ⁶ God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years. ⁷ I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.^{[b](E) 8} And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised^(F) him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.^(G)

The Patriarchs in Egypt

⁹ “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him^{(H) 10} and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.^{(I) 11} Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan,^(J) and our ancestors could find no food. ¹² When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time. ¹³ The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all,^{(K) 15} and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,^{(L) 16} were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.^(M)

Moses, a Rejected Savior

¹⁷ “As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt^{(N) 18} until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt.^{[c] 19} He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive.^{(O) 20} At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months. ²¹ When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.^{(P) 22} So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.^(Q)

²³ “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. ²⁴ When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵ He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. ²⁶ The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’ ^(R)

²⁷ “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?^[d](S)

²⁹ “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.^{(T) 30} After forty years had passed, an angel^[e] appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: ³² I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.^[f](U) Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.

³³ “The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.^[g](V)

³⁵ “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?^[h]—this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.^{(W) 36} This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt,^(X) at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.^(Y)

Israel’s Rebellion against God

³⁷ “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: God^[i] will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.^{[j](Z) 38} He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors.^(AA) He received living oracles to give to us.^{(AB) 39} Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^{(AC) 40} They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.^{[k](AD) 41} They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.^{(AE) 42} God turned away^(AF) and gave them up to worship^(AG) the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

God’s Real Tabernacle

⁴⁴ “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.^{(AI) 45} Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them,^(AJ) until the days of David. ⁴⁶ He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God^[m] of Jacob.^{(AK) 47} It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house,^{(AL) 48} but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:^(AM)

Resisting the Holy Spirit

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked^(AO) people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!^(AP) You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?^(AQ) They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers^(AR) you have now become. ⁵³ You received the law under the direction of angels^(AS) and yet have not kept it.”

The First Christian Martyr

⁵⁴ When they heard these things, they were enraged^[o] and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^{(AT) 56} He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ^(AU)

⁵⁷ They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. ⁵⁸ They dragged him out of the city and began to stone^(AV) him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.^{(AW) 59} While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ^{(AX) 60} He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice,^(AY) “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.^(AZ)