Old/New Testament

Entering the Ark

7 Then the Lord told Noah, “Come—you and all your household—into the ark, because I’ve seen that you alone are righteous^[a] in this generation. ² You are to take with you seven pairs^[b] of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate; ³ along with seven pairs^[c] of the flying birds, male and female, in order to keep their offspring alive on the surface of all the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I’ll send rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I’ll destroy every living creature that I’ve made.”

⁵ Noah did everything that the Lord commanded.

The Flood Begins

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when water began to flood the earth. ⁷ Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark with him before the flood waters arrived.^{[d] 8} From both clean and unclean animals, from birds, and from everything that crawls on the ground, ⁹ two by two, male and female, they entered the ark to join Noah, just as God had commanded.

¹⁰ Seven days later, the flooding started. ¹¹ On the seventeenth day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, all the springs of the great deep burst open, the floodgates of the heavens were opened, ¹² and it rained throughout the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. ¹³ On that very day, Noah entered the ark with his^[e] sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, his sons’ three wives with them, ¹⁴ along with every species of wild animal,^[f] livestock, crawling creature, bird, and every creature that has wings. ¹⁵ Two of each living creature^[g] entered the ark with Noah. ¹⁶ The males and females of each living creature^[h] entered the ark,^[i] just as God had commanded. Then the Lord sealed them inside.

¹⁷ The flood continued throughout the earth for 40 days, while the flood waters increased, lifting the ark so that it rose above the surface of the^[j] earth. ¹⁸ The flood waters continued to surge, increasing throughout the earth, while the ark floated on the surface of the flood water. ¹⁹ The flood water surged even higher throughout the earth, until all the highest mountains under the sky were covered. ²⁰ The flood waters rose 15 cubits^[k] above the mountains. ²¹ Every living thing^[l] on earth died—flying creatures, livestock, wildlife, all creatures that swarm over the earth, and all human beings. ²² Everything that breathed^[m] and everything that had lived on dry land died. ²³ All existing creatures that had lived on the surface of the ground were annihilated, from humans to livestock, from crawling creatures to birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah remained, along with those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴ The flood waters surged over the earth for 150 days.

The Waters Recede

8 God kept Noah in mind, along with all the wildlife^[n] and livestock that were with him in the ark. God’s Spirit^[o] moved throughout the earth, causing the flood waters to subside. ² The water sources from the ocean depths were blocked and the floodgates of the heavens were closed. ³ Then the flood waters steadily receded,^[p] diminishing completely by the end of the 150 days. ⁴ The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat^[q] on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. ⁵ The flood water continued to recede until the tenth month, when, on the first of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

⁶ After 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had built ⁷ and sent out a raven. It went back and forth as the flood water continued to evaporate throughout the earth. ⁸ Later, he sent a dove out from the ark^[r] to see whether the water that covered the land’s surface had completely^[s] receded, ⁹ but the dove could not yet find a place to rest,^[t] so it returned to Noah^[u] on the ark, since water still covered the land. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back^[v] into the ark with him.

¹⁰ Noah^[w] waited another seven days and sent the dove out from the ark again. ¹¹ The dove returned to him in the evening, but in its beak there was an olive leaf that it had plucked! So Noah knew that the flood waters had decreased on the land. ¹² He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him anymore.

¹³ In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life,^[x] during the first month, the flood water began to evaporate from the land. Noah then removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the land was drying. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the ground was dry.

The Lord’s Covenant

¹⁵ God spoke to Noah, ¹⁶ “It’s time for you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives who are with you to leave the ark. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living creature—including the flying creatures, animals, and everything that crawls on the ground—so they may disperse throughout the land, be fruitful, and multiply throughout the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives emerged. ¹⁹ Every animal, every crawling thing, every flying creature, and everything that moves on the earth emerged from the ark by groups.^[y]

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings on it^[z] from every clean animal and every clean bird. ²¹ When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he told himself, “I will never again curse the land because of human beings—even though human inclinations remain evil from youth—nor will I destroy every living being ever again, as I’ve done.

The Covenant with Noah

9 God blessed Noah and his sons and ordered them, “Be productive, multiply, and fill the earth. ² All the living creatures of the earth will be filled with fear and terror of you from now on, including all the creatures that fly in the sky, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the ocean. They’ve been assigned to live under your dominion.^[ab]

³ “Every living, moving creature will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants before, so now you have everything. ⁴ However, you are not to eat meat with its life—that is, its blood—in it! ⁵ Also, I will certainly demand an accounting regarding bloodshed, from every animal and from every human being. I’ll demand an accounting from every human being for the life of another human being.

⁸ Later, God told Noah and his sons, ⁹ “Pay attention! I’m establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you—the flying creatures, the livestock, and all the wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the earth’s animals that came out of the ark. ¹¹ I will establish my covenant with you: No living beings will ever be cut off again by flood waters, and there will never again be a flood that destroys the earth.”

The Sign of God’s Covenant

¹² God also said, “Here’s the symbol that represents the covenant that I’m making between me and you and every living being with you, for all future generations: ¹³ I’ve set my rainbow in the sky^[ac] to symbolize the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow becomes visible in the clouds, ¹⁵ I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature, so that water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will observe it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living beings on the earth.”

¹⁷ God also told Noah, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I’ve established between me and everything^[ad] that lives on the earth.”

Noah and His Family

¹⁸ Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham later fathered Canaan.) ¹⁹ These three were Noah’s sons, and from these men the whole earth was repopulated.

²⁰ Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant and farm a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine, got drunk, and lay down naked^[ae] right in the middle of his tent. ²² Ham, who fathered Canaan, saw his father’s genitals and told his two brothers outside. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth took their father’s^[af] cloak, laid it across both their shoulders, and walking backwards, they both covered their father’s genitals. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s genitals. ²⁴ When Noah sobered up and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

²⁶ He also said,

²⁸ Noah lived 350 years after the flood. ²⁹ After Noah had lived a total of 950 years, he died.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way^(A)

3 About this time,^[a] John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the Judean wilderness, ² “Repent, because the kingdom from^[b] heaven is near!” ³ He was the one the prophet Isaiah was referring to when he said,

⁴ John had clothing made of camel’s hair and wore^[e] a leather belt around his waist. His diet consisted of grasshoppers^[f] and wild honey.

⁵ Then the people of^[g] Jerusalem, all Judea, and the entire region along the Jordan began flocking to him, ⁶ being baptized by him in the Jordan River while they confessed their sins.

⁷ But when John^[h] saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing,^[i] he told them, “You children of serpents! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit that is consistent with repentance! ⁹ Don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have father Abraham!’ because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones! ¹⁰ The ax already lies against the roots of the trees. So every tree that isn’t producing good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹ I am baptizing you with^[j] water as evidence of repentance,^[k] but the one who is coming after me is stronger than I am, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. It is he who will baptize you with^[l] the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand. He will clean up his threshing floor and gather his grain into the barn, but he will burn the chaff with inextinguishable fire.”

Jesus is Baptized^(B)

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me?”

¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be this way for now, because this is the proper way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”^[m]

At this, he permitted him to be baptized.^{[n] 16} When Jesus had been baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Suddenly, the heavens opened up for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. ¹⁷ Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him!”