One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 29
9
will make the rains pour down on the earth.
And it will rain for forty days and forty nights,
until I have wiped from the earth all the living
things I have created.”
5 So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.
6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood
covered the earth. 7 He went on board the boat
to escape the flood—he and his wife and his
sons and their wives. 8 With them were all the
various kinds of animals—those approved for
eating and for sacrifice and those that were
not—along with all the birds and the small
animals that scurry along the ground. 9 They
entered the boat in pairs, male and female, just
as God had commanded Noah. 10 After seven
days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.
11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the
seventeenth day of the second month, all the
underground waters erupted from the earth,
and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the
sky. 12 The rain continued to fall for forty days
and forty nights.
13 That very day Noah had gone into the boat
with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and
Japheth—and their wives. 14 With them in the
boat were pairs of every kind of animal—
domestic and wild, large and s mall—along
with birds of e very kind. 15 Two by two they
came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. 16 A male and female
of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door
behind them.
17 For forty days the flood
waters grew
deeper, covering the ground and lifting the
boat high above the earth. 18 As the waters
rose higher and higher above the ground, the
boat floated safely on the surface. 19 Finally, the
water covered even the highest mountains on
the earth, 20 rising more than twenty-two feet*
above the highest peaks. 21 All the living things
on earth d
ied—birds, domestic animals, wild
animals, small animals that scurry along the
ground, and all the people. 22 Everything that
breathed and lived on dry land died. 23 God
wiped out e very living thing on the e arth—
people, livestock, small animals that scurry
along the ground, and the birds of the sky. All
were destroyed. The only people who survived
were Noah and those with him in the boat.
24 And the floodwaters covered the earth for
150 days.
5:1 Or man; Hebrew reads adam; similarly in 5:2. 5:6 Or the
ancestor of; also in 5:9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25. 5:7 Or the birth of this
ancestor of; also in 5:10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26. 5:29 Noah sounds like
a Hebrew term that can mean “relief” or “comfort.” 6:2 Hebrew
daughters of men; also in 6:4. 6:3 Greek version reads will
January 3
6:14a Traditionally rendered an ark.
6:14b Or
not remain in.
gopher wood.
6:15 Hebrew 300 cubits [138 meters] long, 50 cubits
[23 meters] wide, and 30 cubits [13.8 meters] high.
6:16 Hebrew
an opening of 1 cubit [46 centimeters]. 7:2 Hebrew of each clean
animal; similarly in 7:8. 7:20 Hebrew 15 cubits [6.9 meters].
MATTHEW 3:7–4:11
But when he [John the Baptist] saw many
Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch
him baptize,* he denounced them. “You brood
of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to
flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you
live that you have repented of your sins and
turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other,
‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abra
ham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God
can create children of Abraham from these
very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the
trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce
good fruit will be chopped down and thrown
into the fire.
11 “I baptize with* water those who repent
of their sins and turn to God. But someone is
coming soon who is greater than I am—so
much greater that I’m not worthy even to be
his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.* 12 He
is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat
with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean
up the threshing area, gathering the wheat
into his barn but burning the chaff with never-
ending fire.”
13 Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John
tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who
needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why
are you coming to me?”
15 But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we
must carry out all that God requires.*” So John
agreed to baptize him.
16 After his baptism, as J
esus came up out
of the water, the heavens were opened* and
he saw the Spirit of God descending like a
dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from
heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who
brings me great joy.”
4:1 Then J
esus was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.
2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and
became very hungry.
3 During that time the devil* came and said
to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these
stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God.’*”
