Genesis 7; Genesis 8; Genesis 9; Matthew 3

1 The LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ship with your whole family because I have seen that you alone are righteous among the people of today.

2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal (a male and a female of each) and one pair of every kind of unclean animal (a male and a female).

3 Also, take seven pairs of every kind of bird (a male and a female of each) to preserve animal life all over the earth after the flood.

4 In seven days I will send rain to the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. I will wipe off the face of the earth every living creature that I have made."

5 So Noah did everything that the LORD commanded him.

6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came to the earth.

7 Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives went into the ship to escape the floodwaters.

8 Clean and unclean animals, birds, and creatures that crawl on the ground

9 came to Noah to go into the ship in pairs (a male and female of each) as God had commanded Noah.

10 Seven days later the flood came on the earth.

11 On the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of Noah's life, all the deep springs burst open. The sky opened,

12 and rain came pouring down on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

13 On that same day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, as well as Noah's wife and his three daughters-in-law went into the ship.

14 They had with them every type of wild animal, every type of domestic animal, every type of creature that crawls on the earth, and every type of bird (every creature with wings).

15 A pair of every living, breathing animal came to Noah to go into the ship.

16 A male and a female of every animal went in as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD closed the door behind them.

17 The flood continued for 40 days on the earth. The water increased and lifted the ship so that it rose high above the ground.

18 As the water rose and became very deep, the ship floated on top of the water.

19 The water rose very high above the earth. It covered all the high mountains everywhere under the sky.

20 It rose 23 feet above the mountaintops.

21 Every creature that crawls on the earth died, including birds, domestic and wild animals, and everything that swarms over the earth, along with every human.

22 Everything on dry land (every living, breathing creature) died.

23 Every living creature on the face of the earth was wiped out. Humans, domestic animals, crawling creatures, and birds were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ship were left.

24 The floodwaters were on the earth for 150 days.

1 God remembered Noah and all the wild and domestic animals with him in the ship. So God made a wind blow over the earth, and the water started to go down.

2 The deep springs and the sky had been shut, and the rain had stopped pouring.

3 The water began to recede from the land. At the end of 150 days the water had decreased.

4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship came to rest in the mountains of Ararat.

5 The water kept decreasing until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

6 After 40 more days Noah opened the window he had made in the ship

7 and sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the water on the land had dried up.

8 Next, he sent out a dove to see if the water was gone from the surface of the ground.

9 The dove couldn't find a place to land because the water was still all over the earth. So it came back to Noah in the ship. He reached out and brought the dove back into the ship.

10 He waited seven more days and again sent the dove out of the ship.

11 The dove came to him in the evening, and in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf. Then Noah knew that the water was gone from the earth.

12 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again, but it never came back to him.

13 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water on the land had dried up. Noah opened the top of the ship, looked out, and saw the surface of the ground.

14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was dry.

15 Then God spoke to Noah,

16 "Come out of the ship with your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives.

17 Bring out every animal that's with you: birds, domestic animals, and every creature that crawls on the earth. Be fertile, increase in number, and spread over the earth."

18 So Noah came out with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives.

19 Every animal, crawling creature, and bird--everything that moves on the earth--came out of the ship, one kind after another.

20 Noah built an altar to the LORD. On it he made a burnt offering of each type of clean animal and clean bird.

21 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma. He said to himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of humans, even though from birth their hearts are set on nothing but evil. I will never again kill every living creature as I have just done.

22 As long as the earth exists, planting and harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never stop."

1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fertile, increase in number, and fill the earth.

2 All the wild animals and all the birds will fear you and be terrified of you. Every creature that crawls on the ground and all the fish in the sea have been put under your control.

3 Everything that lives and moves will be your food. I gave you green plants as food; I now give you everything else.

4 "But you are not to eat meat with blood in it. (Blood is life.)

5 In addition, I will demand your blood for your life. I will demand it from any animal or from any person. I will demand the life of any person [who kills] another person.

6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, because in the image of God, God made humans.

7 Be fertile, and increase in number. Spread over the earth, and increase."

8 God also said to Noah and his sons,

9 "I am going to make my promise to you, your descendants,

10 and every living being that is with you--birds, domestic animals, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ship--every living thing on earth.

11 I am making my promise to you. Never again will all life be killed by floodwaters. Never again will there be a flood that destroys the earth."

12 God said, "This is the sign of the promise I am giving to you and every living being that is with you for generations to come.

13 I will put my rainbow in the clouds to be a sign of my promise to the earth.

14 Whenever I form clouds over the earth, a rainbow will appear in the clouds.

15 Then I will remember my promise to you and every living animal. Never again will water become a flood to destroy all life.

16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember my everlasting promise to every living animal on earth."

17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the promise I am making to all life on earth."

18 Noah's sons, who came out of the ship, were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

19 These were Noah's three sons. From them the whole earth was populated. Ham was the father of Canaan.

20 Noah, a farmer, was the first person to plant a vineyard.

21 He drank some wine, got drunk, and lay naked inside his tent.

22 Ham, father of Canaan, saw his father naked. So he went outside and told his two brothers.

23 Shem and Japheth took a blanket and laid it over their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered their father's naked body. They turned their faces away so that they didn't see their father naked.

24 When Noah sobered up, he found out what his youngest son had done to him.

25 So he said, "Canaan is cursed! He will be the lowest slave to his brothers.

26 Praise the LORD, the God of Shem! Canaan will be his slave.

27 May God expand the territory of Japheth. May he live in the tents of Shem. Canaan will be his slave."

28 Noah lived 350 years after the flood.

29 Noah lived a total of 950 years; then he died.

1 Later, John the Baptizer appeared in the desert of Judea. His message was,

2 "Turn to God and change the way you think and act, because the kingdom of heaven is near."

3 Isaiah the prophet spoke about this man when he said, "A voice cries out in the desert: 'Prepare the way for the Lord! Make his paths straight!'"

4 John wore clothes made from camel's hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His diet consisted of locusts and wild honey.

5 Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole Jordan Valley went to him.

6 As they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he said to them, "You poisonous snakes! Who showed you how to flee from God's coming anger?

8 Do those things that prove you have turned to God and have changed the way you think and act.

9 Don't think you can say, 'Abraham is our ancestor.' I can guarantee that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones.

10 The ax is now ready to cut the roots of the trees. Any tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.

11 I baptize you with water so that you will change the way you think and act. But the one who comes after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

12 His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clean up his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into a barn, but he will burn the husks in a fire that can never be put out."

13 Then Jesus appeared. He came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.

14 But John tried to stop him and said, "I need to be baptized by you. Why are you coming to me?"

15 Jesus answered him, "This is the way it has to be now. This is the proper way to do everything that God requires of us." Then John gave in to him.

16 After Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up from the water. Suddenly, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down as a dove to him.

17 Then a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love--my Son with whom I am pleased."