Genesis 9

• 1. Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
• 2. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.
• 3. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
• 4. "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
• 5. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
• 6. "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.
• 7. As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."
• 8. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
• 9. "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you
• 10. and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you-every living creature on earth.
• 11. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
• 12. And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
• 13. I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
• 14. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
• 15. I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
• 16. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
• 17. So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."
• 18. The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)
• 19. These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.
• 20. Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
• 21. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
• 22. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
• 23. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.
• 24. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,
• 25. he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."
• 26. He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
• 27. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."
• 28. After the flood Noah lived 350 years.
• 29. Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

Matthew 8

• 1. When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
• 2. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
• 3. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
• 4. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
• 5. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
• 6. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."
• 7. Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
• 8. The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
• 9. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
• 10. When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
• 11. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
• 12. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
• 13. Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.
• 14. When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
• 15. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
• 16. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
• 17. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."
• 18. When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.
• 19. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
• 20. Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
• 21. Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
• 22. But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
• 23. Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.
• 24. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
• 25. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
• 26. He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
• 27. The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
• 28. When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.
• 29. "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?"
• 30. Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.
• 31. The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."
• 32. He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.
• 33. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.
• 34. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Ezra 8

• 1. These are the family heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
• 2. of the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom; of the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel; of the descendants of David, Hattush
• 3. of the descendants of Shecaniah; of the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men;
• 4. of the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;
• 5. of the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men;
• 6. of the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men;
• 7. of the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men;
• 8. of the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;
• 9. of the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;
• 10. of the descendants of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men;
• 11. of the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;
• 12. of the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;
• 13. of the descendants of Adonikam, the last ones, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;
• 14. of the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.
• 15. I assembled them at the canal that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there three days. When I checked among the people and the priests, I found no Levites there.
• 16. So I summoned Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, who were leaders, and Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of learning,
• 17. and I sent them to Iddo, the leader in Casiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and his kinsmen, the temple servants in Casiphia, so that they might bring attendants to us for the house of our God.
• 18. Because the gracious hand of our God was on us, they brought us Sherebiah, a capable man, from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sherebiah's sons and brothers, 18 men;
• 19. and Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and nephews, 20 men.
• 20. They also brought 220 of the temple servants-a body that David and the officials had established to assist the Levites. All were registered by name.
• 21. There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
• 22. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him."
• 23. So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
• 24. Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah and ten of their brothers,
• 25. and I weighed out to them the offering of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his advisers, his officials and all Israel present there had donated for the house of our God.
• 26. I weighed out to them 650 talents of silver, silver articles weighing 100 talents, 100 talents of gold,
• 27. 20 bowls of gold valued at 1,000 darics, and two fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.
• 28. I said to them, "You as well as these articles are consecrated to the LORD. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.
• 29. Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests and the Levites and the family heads of Israel."
• 30. Then the priests and Levites received the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.
• 31. On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way.
• 32. So we arrived in Jerusalem, where we rested three days.
• 33. On the fourth day, in the house of our God, we weighed out the silver and gold and the sacred articles into the hands of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, and so were the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.
• 34. Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the entire weight was recorded at that time.
• 35. Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs and, as a sin offering, twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.
• 36. They also delivered the king's orders to the royal satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who then gave assistance to the people and to the house of God.

New International Version

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