Wednesday, 03 January

1.   Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2.   "You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; 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 the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4.   "For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made." 5.   And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. 6.   Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. 7.   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 that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12.   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.   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 sort. 15.   And they 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 as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in. 17.   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, 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.   And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22.   All in whose nostrils was the breath 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 Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive . 24.   And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

1.   Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2.   The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3.   And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end 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 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, 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 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. 20.   Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21.   And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22.   "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."

1.   So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2.   "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3.   "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4.   "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is , its blood. 5.   "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning ; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6.   "Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. 7.   And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it." 8.   Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9.   "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10.   "and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11.   "Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12.   And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13.   "I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14.   "It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15.   "and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16.   "The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17.   And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth." 18.   Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19.   These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. 20.   And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21.   Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22.   And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23.   But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24.   So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25.   Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren." 26.   And he said: "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. 27.   May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant." 28.   And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29.   So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

1.   In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2.   and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" 3.   For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.’" 4.   And John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5.   Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6.   and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 7.   But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8.   "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9.   "and do not think 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. 10.   "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11.   "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12.   "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 13.   Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14.   And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?" 15.   But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him. 16.   When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17.   And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."