Day 3: Genesis 8:1-11:9; Psalms 5; Proverbs 1:11–15; Matthew 3

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Genesis 8:1 – 11:9

The Flood Ceases

​¹ Then God remembered Noah, and whatever was with him in the ark: all the wild animals, all the cattle, all the birds, and all the creeping things. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. ² The fountains of the deep and the floodgates 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, on 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, Noah opened the window of the ark he had made. ⁷ Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters 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 to him in the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and brought her to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ Then he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ The dove returned to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew the waters had receded from the earth. ¹² So he waited yet another seven days and again sent out the dove; however, she did not return to him any more. ¹³ And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, 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 Now in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.

¹⁵ Then the Lord God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and their wives with you. ¹⁷ Also, bring out with you every living thing of all flesh: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth, so they may abound on the earth, and increase and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, along with his wife and his sons and their wives. ¹⁹ Every animal, every bird, and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth, according to their kind, went out of the ark. ²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to God, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered whole burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ So the Lord God smelled a sweet aroma. Then the Lord God thought it over and said, “I will never again curse the earth because of man’s works, although the mind of man is diligently involved with evil things 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, summer and spring shall not cease by day or by night.”

  ​¹ Thus God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it. ² For the dread and fear of you shall be upon all the wild animals of the earth, all the birds of heaven, all that move upon the earth, and all the fish of the sea. I have put them under your authority. ³ Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as I did the green herbs. ⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its lifeblood. ⁵ Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of all the wild animals I will require it; and I will require the life of man at the hand of his fellow man. ⁶ Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; because I made man in God’s image. ⁷ So then, increase and multiply; and fill the earth and have dominion over it.”

God’s Covenant with Noah

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Behold, I am establishing My covenant with you and with your seed after you, ¹⁰ and every living creature with you: the birds, the cattle, and all the wild animals of the earth, of all that came out of the ark with you. ¹¹ Thus I will establish My covenant with you, and never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² Then the Lord God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I am setting My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ My rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will certainly remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh on the earth.” ¹⁷ Again God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I established between Me and all flesh 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 Then Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ So he drank of the wine and was drunk and naked in his house. ²² Now 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 walking backwards they covered their father’s nakedness. Since their faces were turned away, they did not see his nakedness. ²⁴ Thus when Noah became sober and knew what his younger son had done to him, ²⁵ he said:

“Cursed be Canaan;

A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

²⁶ He also said,

“Blessed be the Lord God of Shem,

And Canaan shall be his servant.

²⁷ May God enlarge Japheth,

And let him dwell in the habitations of Shem.

Let Canaan be his servant as well.”

²⁸ Now Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

The Genealogy of Noah

​¹ Now this is the genealogy of Noah’s sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and sons were born to them after the flood.

² The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Elisa, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and Rhodians. ⁵ From these the coastal nations were separated into their lands, each according to his language, in their tribes and nations.

  ⁶ The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. ⁸ Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a giant on the earth. ⁹ He was a giant, a hunter before the Lord God; therefore they would say, “As Nimrod the giant, the hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the principal city). ¹³ Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and the Caphtorim). ¹⁵ Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and the Chettite; ¹⁶ the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; ¹⁷ the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; ¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward, the tribes of the Canaanites were dispersed. ¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These were the sons of Ham, according to their tribes, according to their languages, in their countries and in their nations.

²¹ Now sons were also born to Shem himself, the father of all the sons of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. ²² The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, Aram and Cainan. ²³ The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴ Arphaxad begot Cainan, and Cainan begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber. ²⁵ Two sons were born to Eber: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. ³¹ These were the sons of Shem, according to their tribes, according to their languages, in their countries, according to their nations.

³² These were the tribes of Noah’s sons, according to their genealogy, in their nations; and from these the coastal nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

​¹ Now the whole earth was one language and one speech. ² And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there. ³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire.” They had brick for stone and asphalt for mortar. ⁴ They also said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower, whose top will reach to heaven; and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” ⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the sons of men built. ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Indeed, the people are one race and one language, and they have begun to do what they said. Now they will not fail to accomplish what they have undertaken. ⁷ Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language, so they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city and the tower. ⁹ Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the languages of all the earth; and from there the Lord God scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Psalms 5

For the End; concerning the inheritance; a psalm by David.

² Give ear to my words, O Lord,

Hear my cry.

³ Give heed to the voice of my supplication,

My King and my God,

For to You will I pray, O Lord.

⁴ In the morning You shall hear my voice;

In the morning I will stand before You,

And I will watch.

⁵ For You are not a God who wills lawlessness,

Nor shall the evildoer dwell with You.

⁶ The lawless shall not stand before Your eyes;

You hate all the workers of lawlessness;

⁷ You shall destroy all who speak falsehood;

The Lord abhors the man of violence and deceit.

⁸ But as for me, in the fullness of Your mercy I will come into Your house;

In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.

⁹ Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;

Make straight Your way before me.

¹⁰ For there is no truth in their mouth;

Their heart is vain;

Their throat is an open grave;

They deal deceptively with their tongues.

¹¹ Judge them, O God.

Let them fall by their false accusations;

Cast them out in the multitude of their ungodliness;

For they provoked You, O Lord.

¹² But let all who hope in You be glad;

They will greatly rejoice forever,

For You will dwell in them;

And all who love Your name will boast in You.

¹³ For You will bless the righteous;

O Lord, You crowned us with the shield of Your goodwill.

Proverbs 1:11-15

My son, do not let the ungodly lead you astray,

And do not consent if they invite you, saying,

¹² “Come with us; take part in bloodshed,

And let us hide a righteous man in the earth unjustly;

¹³ And let us swallow him, just as Hades does the living,

And let us take away his remembrance from the earth;

¹⁴ Let us seize his valuable property,

And let us fill our houses with spoils;

¹⁵ Cast your lot with us

And let us acquire a common bag;

Let there be one purse for us.”

Matthew 3

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 Now 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.”

John Baptizes Jesus

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.”