Now in those days  ¹John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the  ²wilderness of Judea

And saying,  ¹Repent, for the  ²kingdom of the heavens has  ³drawn near.

For this is he who was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “A voice of one crying in the  ¹wilderness,  ²Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths.”

Now this John had his garment of  ¹camel's hair and a leather girdle around his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

At that time Jerusalem and all Judea and all the surrounding region of the Jordan went out to him,

And they were  ¹baptized by him in the  ²Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

But when he saw many of the  ¹Pharisees and  ²Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Offspring of vipers, who prompted you to flee from the coming wrath?

Produce then fruit worthy of your repentance.

And do not presume to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father; for I tell you that God is able, out of these stones, to  ¹raise up children to Abraham.

And already the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and  ¹fire,

Whose winnowing fan is in His hand. And He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His  ¹wheat into His barn, but the  ¹chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be  ¹baptized by him.

But John tried to prevent Him, saying, It is I who have need of being baptized by You, and You come to me?

But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it for now, for it is fitting for us in this way to fulfill all  ¹righteousness. Then he permitted Him.

And  ¹having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the  ²heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the  ³Spirit of God descending like a  ⁴dove and coming upon Him.

And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying,  ¹This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.

And when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,

The  ¹sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they  ²took wives for themselves from all whom they chose.

And Jehovah said, My  ¹Spirit will not strive with man forever, for he indeed is  ²flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.

The  ¹Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward — when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every  ¹imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in His heart.

And Jehovah said, I will blot out the man whom I have created from the surface of the ground, from man to beast to creeping things to the birds of heaven; for I repent that I have made them.

 ¹But Noah found  ²favor in the sight of Jehovah.

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generations; and Noah  ¹walked with God.

And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.

And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and now I am about to destroy them with the earth.

Make yourself an  ¹ark of  ²gopher wood; you shall make rooms in the ark and shall cover it within and without with  ³pitch.

And  ¹this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be  ²three hundred  ³cubits, its width  ²fifty cubits, and its height  ²thirty cubits.

You shall make an  ¹opening for light for the ark, and you shall finish it up to a cubit from the top; and you shall put the  ²entrance of the ark in its side; you shall make it with  ³lower, second, and third stories.

And now I am about to bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.

But I will establish My  ¹covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

And of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every kind you shall bring into the ark to preserve them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

Of the birds according to their kind and of the cattle according to their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind will come to you in order to preserve them alive.

And for your part, take some of every kind of food that is edible, and gather it to yourself, and it will be for food for you and for them.

And Noah did this; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

Then Jehovah said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation.

Of every clean animal you shall take with you seven pairs, a male and its female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and its female;

Also of the birds of heaven, seven pairs, male and female; to  ¹preserve their offspring alive on the surface of all the earth.

For in seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth  ¹forty days and forty nights, and every living being that I have made I will blot out from the surface of the ground.

And Noah did according to all that Jehovah commanded him.

And Noah was  ¹six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.

And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.

Of clean animals and of animals that are not clean and of birds and of everything that creeps upon the ground,

Two by two they came into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

And after the seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that very day all the springs of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened.

And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

On that very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,

They and every animal according to its kind and all the cattle according to their kind and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth according to its kind and every bird according to its kind — every bird, every winged creature.

And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two of all flesh in which was the breath of life.

And those who went in, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and Jehovah  ¹shut the door behind him.

And the flood was on the earth forty days; and the  ¹waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.

And the waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went about on the surface of the waters.

And when the waters had prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, all the high mountains that were under the entire heaven were covered.

The waters prevailed fifteen cubits higher, once the mountains were covered.

And all flesh that moved upon the earth expired: birds and cattle and animals and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth and all mankind.

Everything in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died.

Thus He blotted out every living being that was upon the surface of the ground, from man to beast to creeping things to the birds of heaven; and they were blotted out from the earth. And only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

And the waters prevailed upon the earth one hundred fifty days.

And God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

The springs of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from the heavens was restrained.

And the waters receded steadily from upon the earth. So at the end of one hundred fifty days the waters began to diminish.

And the ark came to  ¹rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

And the waters diminished steadily until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

And at the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

And he sent out the  ¹raven; and it went out, going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

And he sent out the dove from him to see if the waters had abated from the surface of the ground.

But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. And he put out his hand and took her and brought her to himself into the ark.

And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark.

And the dove came to him toward evening time, and there in her beak was a freshly plucked  ¹olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had abated from the earth.

And he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, and she did not return to him again.

And in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and saw that now the surface of the ground was dry.

And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

And God spoke to Noah, saying,

Go forth from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you;

Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh — birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth — that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.

So Noah  ¹went forth, as well as his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him.

Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves upon the earth, went forth from the ark according to their families.

And Noah built an  ¹altar to Jehovah and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird and offered  ²burnt offerings on the altar.

And Jehovah smelled the  ¹satisfying fragrance; and Jehovah said in His heart, I will never again  ²curse the ground on account of man, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I ever again smite everything living as I have done.

Throughout all the days that earth remains,
 ¹Seed time and harvest, and cold and heat,
And summer and winter, and day and night
Shall not cease.