Genesis 4; Genesis 5; Genesis 6; Matthew 2

1 Then Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she became pregnant. She bore a son and said, "By the Lord's help I have gotten a son." So she named him Cain.

2 Later she gave birth to another son, Abel. Abel became a shepherd, but Cain was a farmer.

3 After some time Cain brought some of his harvest and gave it as an offering to the Lord.

4 Then Abel brought the first lamb born to one of his sheep, killed it, and gave the best parts of it as an offering. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering,

5 but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious, and he scowled in anger.

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why that scowl on your face?

7 If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling; but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it."

8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out in the fields." When they were out in the fields, Cain turned on his brother and killed him.

9 The Lord asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He answered, "I don't know. Am I supposed to take care of my brother?"

10 Then the Lord said, "Why have you done this terrible thing? Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground, like a voice calling for revenge.

11 You are placed under a curse and can no longer farm the soil. It has soaked up your brother's blood as if it had opened its mouth to receive it when you killed him.

12 If you try to grow crops, the soil will not produce anything; you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth."

13 And Cain said to the Lord, "This punishment is too hard for me to bear.

14 You are driving me off the land and away from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me."

15 But the Lord answered, "No. If anyone kills you, seven lives will be taken in revenge." So the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who met him not to kill him.

16 And Cain went away from the Lord's presence and lived in a land called "Wandering," which is east of Eden.

17 Cain and his wife had a son and named him Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son.

18 Enoch had a son named Irad, who was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael had a son named Methushael, who was the father of Lamech.

19 Lamech had two wives, Adah and Zillah.

20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the ancestor of those who raise livestock and live in tents.

21 His brother was Jubal, the ancestor of all musicians who play the harp and the flute.

22 Zillah gave birth to Tubal Cain, who made all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal Cain was Naamah.

23 Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me: I have killed a young man because he struck me.

24 If seven lives are taken to pay for killing Cain, Seventy-seven will be taken if anyone kills me."

25 Adam and his wife had another son. She said, "God has given me a son to replace Abel, whom Cain killed." So she named him Seth.

26 Seth had a son whom he named Enosh. It was then that people began using the Lord's holy name in worship.

1 This is the list of the descendants of Adam. (When God created human beings, he made them like himself.

2 He created them male and female, blessed them, and named them "Human Beings.")

3 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was like him, and he named him Seth.

4 After that, Adam lived another 800 years. He had other children

5 and died at the age of 930.

6 When Seth was 105, he had a son, Enosh,

7 and then lived another 807 years. He had other children

8 and died at the age of 912.

9 When Enosh was 90, he had a son, Kenan,

10 and then lived another 815 years. He had other children

11 and died at the age of 905.

12 When Kenan was 70, he had a son, Mahalalel,

13 and then lived another 840 years. He had other children

14 and died at the age of 910.

15 When Mahalalel was 65, he had a son, Jared,

16 and then lived another 830 years. He had other children

17 and died at the age of 895.

18 When Jared was 162, he had a son, Enoch,

19 and then lived another 800 years. He had other children

20 and died at the age of 962.

21 When Enoch was 65, he had a son, Methuselah.

22 After that, Enoch lived in fellowship with God for 300 years and had other children.

23 He lived to be 365 years old.

24 He spent his life in fellowship with God, and then he disappeared, because God took him away.

25 When Methuselah was 187, he had a son, Lamech,

26 and then lived another 782 years. He had other children

27 and died at the age of 969.

28 When Lamech was 182, he had a son

29 and said, "From the very ground on which the Lord put a curse, this child will bring us relief from all our hard work"; so he named him Noah.

30 Lamech lived another 595 years. He had other children

31 and died at the age of 777.

32 After Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

1 When people had spread all over the world, and daughters were being born,

2 some of the heavenly beings saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked.

3 Then the Lord said, "I will not allow people to live forever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years."

4 In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and the heavenly beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago.

5 When the Lord saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time,

6 he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret

7 that he said, "I will wipe out these people I have created, and also the animals and the birds, because I am sorry that I made any of them."

8 But the Lord was pleased with Noah.

9 This is the story of Noah. He had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah had no faults and was the only good man of his time. He lived in fellowship with God,

10

11 but everyone else was evil in God's sight, and violence had spread everywhere.

12 God looked at the world and saw that it was evil, for the people were all living evil lives.

13 God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all people. I will destroy them completely, because the world is full of their violent deeds.

14 Build a boat for yourself out of good timber; make rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out.

15 Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

16 Make a roof for the boat and leave a space of 18 inches between the roof and the sides. Build it with three decks and put a door in the side.

17 I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die,

18 but I will make a covenant with you. Go into the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives.

19 Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and of every kind of bird, in order to keep them alive.

20

21 Take along all kinds of food for you and for them."

22 Noah did everything that God commanded.

1 Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterward, some men who studied the stars came from the East to Jerusalem

2 and asked, "Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him."

3 When King Herod heard about this, he was very upset, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem.

4 He called together all the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and asked them, "Where will the Messiah be born?"

5 "In the town of Bethlehem in Judea," they answered. "For this is what the prophet wrote:

6 "Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least of the leading cities of Judah; for from you will come a leader who will guide my people Israel.' "

7 So Herod called the visitors from the East to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem with these instructions: "Go and make a careful search for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too may go and worship him."

9 And so they left, and on their way they saw the same star they had seen in the East. When they saw it, how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

11 They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and presented them to him.

12 Then they returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod.

13 After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, "Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave."

14 Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt,

15 where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, "I called my Son out of Egypt."

16 When Herod realized that the visitors from the East had tricked him, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old and younger - this was done in accordance with what he had learned from the visitors about the time when the star had appeared.

17 In this way what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true:

18 "A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is crying for her children; she refuses to be comforted, for they are dead."

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt

20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go back to the land of Israel, because those who tried to kill the child are dead."

21 So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Israel.

22 But when Joseph heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, he was afraid to go there. He was given more instructions in a dream, so he went to the province of Galilee

23 and made his home in a town named Nazareth. And so what the prophets had said came true: "He will be called a Nazarene."