1 Then the Lord said to Noah, ^p“Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that ^qyou are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all ^rclean animals,¹ the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs² of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days ^sI will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, ^tand every living thing³ that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 ^uAnd Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

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 ^vfountains of the great deep burst forth, and ^wthe windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They ^xwent into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in ^yas God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

17 The flood ^zcontinued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits⁴ deep. 21 And ^aall flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land ^bin whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only ^cNoah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

The Flood Subsides

1 But God ^dremembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And ^eGod made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 ^fThe fountains of the deep and ^fthe windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end ^gof 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of ^hArarat. 5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, ⁱyou and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and ^jbe 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 beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

God’s Covenant with Noah

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled ^kthe pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again ^lcurse⁵ the ground because of man, for ^mthe intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. ⁿNeither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 ^oWhile the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, ^pday and night, shall not cease.”

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ^q“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 ^rThe fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 ^sEvery moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And ^tas I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its ^ulife, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: ^vfrom every beast I will require it and ^wfrom man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

7 And you,⁶ be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, ^zI establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 ^aI establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, ^b“This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set ^cmy bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 ^dI will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember ^ethe everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Noah’s Descendants

18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were ^fShem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and ^gfrom these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.⁷

20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.⁸ 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine ^hand knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

26 He also said,

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 ^hIn those days ⁱJohn the Baptist came preaching in ^jthe wilderness of Judea, 2 ^k“Repent, for ^lthe kingdom of heaven is at hand.”¹ 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

4 Now John wore ^oa garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was ^plocusts and ^qwild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, ^rconfessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many of ^sthe Pharisees and ^tSadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ^u“You brood of ^vvipers! Who warned you to flee from ^wthe wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit ^xin keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ^y‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from ^zthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^aEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 ^b“I baptize you with water ^cfor repentance, but ^dhe who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you ^ewith the Holy Spirit and ^ffire. 12 His ^gwinnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and ^hgather his wheat into the barn, ⁱbut the chaff he will burn with ^junquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

13 ^kThen Jesus came ^lfrom Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 ^mJohn would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, ^othe heavens were opened to him,³ and he ^psaw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, ^qa voice from heaven said, ^r“This is my beloved Son,⁴ with whom I am well pleased.”