The Wickedness and Judgment of Man

6 Now it came to pass, ^(A)when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, ² that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they ^(B)took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

³ And the Lord said, ^(C)“My Spirit shall not ^(D)strive^[a] with man forever, ^(E)for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” ⁴ There were ^[b]giants on the earth in those ^(F)days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

⁵ Then ^[c]the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every ^(G)intent^[d] of the thoughts of his heart was only evil ^[e]continually. ⁶ And ^(H)the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and ^(I)He was grieved in His ^(J)heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will ^(K)destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah ^(L)found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah Pleases God

⁹ This is the genealogy of Noah. ^(M)Noah was a just man, ^[f]perfect in his generations. Noah ^(N)walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah begot three sons: ^(O)Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ The earth also was corrupt ^(P)before God, and the earth was ^(Q)filled with violence. ¹² So God ^(R)looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for ^(S)all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

The Ark Prepared^(T)

¹³ And God said to Noah, ^(U)“The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; ^(V)and behold, ^(W)I will destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make ^[g]rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. ¹⁵ And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred ^[h]cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶ You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. ^17 (X)And behold, I Myself am bringing ^(Y)floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall ^(Z)die. ¹⁸ But I will establish My ^(AA)covenant with you; and ^(AB)you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring ^(AC)two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind ^(AD)will come to you to keep them alive. ²¹ And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”

^22 (AE)Thus Noah did; ^(AF)according to all that ^(AG)God commanded him, so he did.

The Great Flood^(AH)

7 Then the ^(AI)Lord said to Noah, ^(AJ)“Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that ^(AK)you are righteous before Me in this generation. ² You shall take with you seven each of every ^(AL)clean animal, a male and his female; ^(AM)two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; ³ also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep ^[i]the species alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For after ^(AN)seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth ^(AO)forty days and forty nights, and I will ^[j]destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” ^5 (AP)And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. ⁶ Noah was ^(AQ)six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.

^7 (AR)So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. ⁸ Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, ⁹ two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on ^(AS)that day all ^(AT)the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the ^(AU)windows of heaven were opened. ^12 (AV)And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— ^14 (AW)they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every ^(AX)sort. ¹⁵ And they ^(AY)went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. ¹⁶ So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in ^(AZ)as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.

^17 (BA)Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, ^(BB)and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹ And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. ²⁰ The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. ^21 (BC)And all flesh died that moved on ^[k]the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. ²² All in ^(BD)whose nostrils was the breath ^[l]of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. ²³ So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only ^(BE)Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. ^24 (BF)And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

Noah’s Deliverance

8 Then God ^(BG)remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. ^(BH)And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. ^2 (BI)The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also ^(BJ)stopped, and ^(BK)the rain from heaven was restrained. ³ And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end ^(BL)of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. ⁴ Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

⁶ So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened ^(BM)the window of the ark which he had made. ⁷ Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. ⁸ He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. ¹⁰ And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹ Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. ¹² So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

¹³ And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.

¹⁵ Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, ^(BN)you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and ^(BO)be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹ Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

God’s Covenant with Creation

²⁰ Then Noah built an ^(BP)altar to the Lord, and took of ^(BQ)every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered ^(BR)burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ And the Lord smelled ^(BS)a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again ^(BT)curse the ground for man’s sake, although the ^(BU)imagination^[m] of man’s heart is evil from his youth; ^(BV)nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way^(A)

3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^(B)Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ^2 [a]while ^(C)Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to ^(D)John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. ^3 (E)And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance ^(F)for the remission of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

John Preaches to the People^(I)

⁷ Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, ^(J)“Brood^[b] of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore bear fruits ^(K)worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ⁹ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore ^(L)every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ So the people asked him, saying, ^(M)“What shall we do then?”

¹¹ He answered and said to them, ^(N)“He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, ^(O)let him do likewise.”

¹² Then ^(P)tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

¹³ And he said to them, ^(Q)“Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”

¹⁴ Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”

So he said to them, “Do not ^[c]intimidate anyone ^(R)or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, ¹⁶ John answered, saying to all, ^(S)“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will ^(T)baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and ^(U)gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. ^19 (V)But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his ^[d]brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, ²⁰ also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.

John Baptizes Jesus^(W)

²¹ When all the people were baptized, ^(X)it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. ²² And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am ^(Y)well pleased.”

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ^(Z)

²³ Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at ^(AA)about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) ^(AB)the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, ²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, ²⁵ the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶ the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, ²⁷ the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of ^(AC)Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸ the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, ²⁹ the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰ the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, ³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of ^(AD)Nathan, ^(AE)the son of David, ^32 (AF)the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, ³³ the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴ the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, ^(AG)the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵ the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, ^36 (AH)the son of Cainan, the son of ^(AI)Arphaxad, ^(AJ)the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸ the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, ^(AK)the son of God.