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    NCV, Grace for the Moment Daily Bible: Spend 365 Days reading the Bible with Max Lucado
    NCV, Grace for the Moment Daily Bible: Spend 365 Days reading the Bible with Max Lucado
    NCV, Grace for the Moment Daily Bible: Spend 365 Days reading the Bible with Max Lucado
    Ebook4,145 pages132 hours

    NCV, Grace for the Moment Daily Bible: Spend 365 Days reading the Bible with Max Lucado

    By Max Lucado and Thomas Nelson

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    About this ebook

    Spend a year reading the Bible with Max Lucado! In this Bible, Max Lucado will guide you through the Scripture day-by-day, with daily readings from the Old and New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs, plus a devotional insight.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThomas Nelson
    Release dateSep 17, 2006
    ISBN9781418576172
    NCV, Grace for the Moment Daily Bible: Spend 365 Days reading the Bible with Max Lucado

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      NCV, Grace for the Moment Daily Bible - Max Lucado

      Grace for the Moment

      Daily Bible

      NCV

      Devotional writings by Max Lucado

      NCV™
      New Century Version®
      Nelson Bibles
      A Division of Thomas Nelson Publishers
      Since 1798
      www.thomasnelson.com

      Grace for the Moment Daily Bible

      Copyright © 2006 by Max Lucado

      The Holy Bible, New Century Version® Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

      The Publisher is pleased hereby to grant permission for the New Century Version to be quoted or reprinted without prior written permission with the following qualifications: (1) up to and including one thousand (1,000) verses may be quoted, except: (a) the verses being quoted may not comprise as much as 50 percent of the work in which they are quoted, and/or

      (b) the verses quoted may not comprise an entire book of the Bible when quoted; (2) all NCV quotations must conform accurately to the NCV text.

      Quotations from this Bible may be identified in written form with the abbreviation (NCV) in less formal documents, such as bulletins, newsletters, curriculum, media pieces, posters, transparencies, and where space is limited.

      A proper credit line must appear on the title or copyright page of any work quoting from the New Century Version, as follows:

      "Scriptures quoted from The Holy Bible, New Century Version®, copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission."

      Quotations of more than 1,000 verses, or other permission requests, must be approved by Thomas Nelson, Inc., in writing in advance of use.

      All excerpts used by permission.

      The preliminary research and development on the New Century Version was done by the World Bible Translation Center, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas 76182.

      Cover art: The DesignWorks Group, Inc.

      Printed in the United States of America. All Rights Reserved. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9-10 09 08 07 06

      Table Of Contents

      Introduction

      Preface

      January

      February

      March

      April

      May

      June

      July

      August

      September

      October

      November

      December

      Acknowledgements

      January

      January 1

      January 2

      January 3

      January 4

      January 5

      January 6

      January 7

      January 8

      January 9

      January 10

      January 11

      January 12

      January 13

      January 14

      January 15

      January 16

      January 17

      January 18

      January 19

      January 20

      January 21

      January 22

      January 23

      January 24

      January 25

      January 26

      January 27

      January 28

      January 29

      January 30

      January 31

      February

      February 1

      February 2

      February 3

      February 4

      February 5

      February 6

      February 7

      February 8

      February 9

      February 10

      February 11

      February 12

      February 13

      February 14

      February 15

      February 16

      February 17

      February 18

      February 19

      February 20

      February 21

      February 22

      February 23

      February 24

      February 25

      February 26

      February 27

      February 28

      March

      March 1

      March 2

      March 3

      March 4

      March 5

      March 6

      March 7

      March 8

      March 9

      March 10

      March 11

      March 12

      March 13

      March 14

      March 15

      March 16

      March 17

      March 18

      March 19

      March 20

      March 21

      March 22

      March 23

      March 24

      March 25

      March 26

      March 27

      March 28

      March 29

      March 30

      March 31

      April

      April 1

      April 2

      April 3

      April 4

      April 5

      April 6

      April 7

      April 8

      April 9

      April 10

      April 11

      April 12

      April 13

      April 14

      April 15

      April 16

      April 17

      April 18

      April 19

      April 20

      April 21

      April 22

      April 23

      April 24

      April 25

      April 26

      April 27

      April 28

      April 29

      April 30

      May

      May 1

      May 2

      May 3

      May 4

      May 5

      May 6

      May 7

      May 8

      May 9

      May 10

      May 11

      May 12

      May 13

      May 14

      May 15

      May 16

      May 17

      May 18

      May 19

      May 20

      May 21

      May 22

      May 23

      May 24

      May 25

      May 26

      May 27

      May 28

      May 29

      May 30

      May 31

      June

      June 1

      June 2

      June 3

      June 4

      June 5

      June 6

      June 7

      June 8

      June 9

      June 10

      June 11

      June 12

      June 13

      June 14

      June 15

      June 16

      June 17

      June 18

      June 19

      June 20

      June 21

      June 22

      June 23

      June 24

      June 25

      June 26

      June 27

      June 28

      June 29

      June 30

      July

      July 1

      July 2

      July 3

      July 4

      July 5

      July 6

      July 7

      July 8

      July 9

      July 10

      July 11

      July 12

      July 13

      July 14

      July 15

      July 16

      July 17

      July 18

      July 19

      July 20

      July 21

      July 22

      July 23

      July 24

      July 25

      July 26

      July 27

      July 28

      July 28

      July 28

      July 29

      July 30

      July 31

      August

      August 1

      August 2

      August 3

      August 4

      August 5

      August 6

      August 7

      August 8

      August 9

      August 10

      August 11

      August 12

      August 13

      August 14

      August 15

      August 16

      August 17

      August 18

      August 19

      August 20

      August 21

      August 22

      August 23

      August 24

      August 25

      August 26

      August 27

      August 28

      August 29

      August 30

      August 31

      September

      September 1

      September 2

      September 3

      September 4

      September 5

      September 6

      September 7

      September 8

      September 9

      September 10

      September 11

      September 12

      September 13

      September 14

      September 15

      September 16

      September 17

      September 18

      September 19

      September 20

      September 21

      September 22

      September 23

      September 24

      September 25

      September 26

      September 27

      September 28

      September 29

      September 30

      October

      October 1

      October 2

      October 3

      October 4

      October 5

      October 6

      October 7

      October 8

      October 9

      October 10

      October 11

      October 12

      October 13

      October 14

      October 15

      October 16

      October 17

      October 18

      October 19

      October 20

      October 21

      October 22

      October 23

      October 24

      October 25

      October 26

      October 27

      October 28

      October 29

      October 30

      October 31

      November

      November 1

      November 2

      November 3

      November 4

      November 5

      November 6

      November 7

      November 8

      November 9

      November 10

      November 11

      November 12

      November 13

      November 14

      November 15

      November 16

      November 17

      November 18

      November 19

      November 20

      November 21

      November 22

      November 23

      November 24

      November 25

      November 26

      November 27

      November 28

      November 29

      November 30

      December

      December 1

      December 2

      December 3

      December 4

      December 5

      December 6

      December 7

      December 8

      December 9

      December 10

      December 11

      December 12

      December 13

      December 14

      December 15

      December 16

      December 17

      December 18

      December 19

      December 20

      December 21

      December 22

      December 23

      December 24

      December 25

      December 26

      December 27

      December 28

      December 29

      December 30

      December 31

      Introduction

      Dear Friend,

      May the words of this book, God’s book, grant you eternal strength. May he steal your heart with heaven-glimpses and steel your character with strength-portions.

      He will. God will meet your needs of today, today. This is his plan, help in the hour of need. Grace for the moment. The concerns of tomorrow will be met tomorrow. Provisions for next week will arrive next week. God meets the needs of the day, each day.

      For that reason Jesus taught us to pray: Give us the food we need for each day. (Luke 11:3)

      Bread represents our basic need. We need only a couple of things every day: breath, bread, a cherry-topped chocolate ice cream sundae … (ok, the cherry is optional). Christ explains God’s schedule for meeting such needs. Day by day. We don’t pray for an annual allotment or monthly shipment of bread. He gives not a bakery or a truckload. He gives daily portions.

      When the wilderness wandering Israelites grew hungry, he responded with daily downpours of manna and coveys of quail. God told them to gather just enough food for the day, but some didn’t listen. But some of the people did not listen to Moses and kept part of it to eat the next morning. It became full of worms and began to stink … (Exodus 16:20).

      Don’t we do likewise? Try to solve tomorrow’s problems with today’s resources and today stinks. It gets wormy. Jesus could not have been more forthright: Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:33–34).

      Trust God, friend. "Let us, then, feel very sure that we can come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it." (Hebrews 4:16, emphasis mine).

      God gives grace for the moment. And in this moment, through these pages, may he amply provide for you.

      Max Lucado

      Preface

      God intended for everyone to be able to read and understand his Word. The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, the language of the people of Israel. Through the use of vivid stories based on real events and beautiful poetry, it appeals to the minds and hearts of the educated and the uneducated. The New Testament was first written in the simple Greek of everyday life, not in the Latin of Roman courts or the classical Greek of the academies. Even Jesus, the Master Teacher, taught spiritual principles by comparing them to such familiar terms as pearls, seeds, rocks, trees, and sheep. Likewise, the New Century Version translates the Scriptures in familiar, everyday words of our times.

      The New Century Version is a translation of God’s Word from the original Hebrew and Greek languages. A previous edition of the complete New Century Version, the International Children’s Bible, was published in 1986.

      A Trustworthy Translation

      Two basic premises guided the translation process of the New Century Version. The first concern was that the translation be faithful to the manuscripts in the original languages. A team composed of the World Bible Translation Center and fifty additional, highly qualified and experienced Bible scholars and translators was assembled. The team included people with translation experience on such accepted versions as the New International Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the New King James Version. The most recent scholarship and the best available Hebrew and Greek texts were used, principally the third edition of the United Bible Societies’ Greek text and the latest edition of the Biblia Hebraica, along with the Septuagint.

      A Clear Translation

      The second concern was to make the language clear enough for anyone to read the Bible and understand it. In maintaining clear language, several guidelines were followed. Vocabulary choice has been based upon The Living Word Vocabulary by Dr. Edgar Dale and Dr. Joseph O’Rourke (Worldbook-Childcraft International, 1981), which is the standard used by the editors of The World Book Encyclopedia to determine appropriate vocabulary. For difficult words that have no simpler synonyms, footnotes and references are provided. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page and are indicated in the text by an n (for note).

      The New Century Version aids understanding by putting concepts into natural terms. Modern measurements and geographical locations have been used as much as possible. For instance, terms such as shekels, cubits, omer, and hin have been converted to modern equivalents of weights and measures. Where geographical references are identical, the modern name has been used, such as the Mediterranean Sea instead of Great Sea or Western Sea. Also, to minimize confusion, the most familiar name for a place is used consistently instead of using variant names for the same place. Lake Galilee is used throughout the text rather than its variant forms, Sea of Kinnereth, Lake Gennesaret, and Sea of Tiberias.

      Ancient customs are often unfamiliar to modern readers. Customs such as shaving a man’s beard to shame him or walking between the halves of a dead animal to seal an agreement are meaningless to most people today. So these are clarified either in the text or in a footnote.

      Since meanings of words change with time, care has been taken to avoid potential misunderstandings. Frequently in the Old Testament God tells his people to devote something to him, as when he tells the Israelites to devote Jericho and everything in it to him. While we might understand this to mean he is telling them to keep it safe and holy, the exact opposite is true. He is telling them to destroy it totally as an offering to him. The New Century Version communicates the idea clearly by translating devoted in these situations as destroyed as an offering to the LORD.

      Rhetorical questions in many instances have been stated according to their implied answer. The psalmist’s question What god is so great as our God? has been stated more directly as No god is as great as our God.

      Figures of speech have been translated according to their meanings. For instance, the expression the Virgin Daughter of Zion, which is frequently used in the Old Testament, is simply translated the people of Jerusalem.

      Idiomatic expressions of the biblical languages are translated to communicate the same meaning to today’s reader that would have been understood by the original audience. For example, the Hebrew idiom he rested with his fathers is translated by its meaning—he died.

      Obscure terms have been clarified. In the Old Testament God frequently condemns the people for their high places and Asherah poles. The New Century Version translates these according to their meanings, which would have been understood by the Hebrews. High places is translated places where gods were worshiped, and Asherah poles is translated Asherah idols.

      Gender language has been rendered in keeping with the principles of meaning-based translation. In the interest of providing the best rendering of the original Hebrew and Greek texts in contemporary English, appropriate gender terms are used whenever it is possible to do so without hindering clarity or accuracy. Masculine terms are used when the meaning of the original has to do with males, including references to deity and to male cultural situations such as the military and the priesthood. Feminine terms are used when the meaning of the original has to do with females. When the meaning of the original has to do with both males and females, nongendered terms are used. (In such cases, the masculine resumptive pronoun has sometimes been preferred to changing person or number.)

      The divine name YHWH, the tetragrammaton, has been indicated in the New Century Version by putting LORD, and sometimes God, in capital letters, following the tradition of other English versions. This is to distinguish it from Adonai, another Hebrew word that is translated Lord.

      Proper English style has been maintained while clarifying concepts and communication. The beauty of the Hebrew parallelism in poetry and the wordplays have been retained, and the images of the ancient languages have been captured in equivalent English images wherever possible.

      Study Aids

      Other features to enhance understanding of the text include subject headings throughout the text to identify speakers and topics and footnotes offering additional information on selected verses.

      Our Prayer

      It is with great humility and prayerfulness that this Bible is presented. We acknowledge the infallibility of God’s Word, as well as our own human frailty. We pray that God has worked through us as his vessels so that we all might better learn his truth for ourselves and that it might richly grow in our lives. It is to his glory that this Bible is given.

      The Publisher

      January 1

      Made in His Image

      Then God said, Let us make human beings in our image and likeness.

      Genesis 1:26

      Imagine God’s creativity. Of all we don’t know about the creation, there is one thing we do know—he did it with a smile. He must’ve had a blast. Painting the stripes on the zebra, hanging the stars in the sky, putting the gold in the sunset. What creativity! Stretching the neck of the giraffe, putting the flutter in the mockingbird’s wings, planting the giggle in the hyena.

      What a time he had. Like a whistling carpenter in his workshop, he loved every bit of it. He poured himself into the work. So intent was his creativity that he took a day off at the end of the week just to rest.

      And then, as a finale to a brilliant performance, he made man. With his typical creative flair, he began with a useless mound of dirt and ended up with an invaluable species called a human. A human who had the unique honor to bear the stamp, In His Image.

      from No Wonder They Call Him the Savior

      Genesis 1:1—2:25

      The Beginning of the World

      ¹ In the beginning God created the sky and the earth. ²The earth was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God’s Spirit was moving over the water.

      ³Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, so he divided the light from the darkness. ⁵God named the light day and the darkness night. Evening passed, and morning came. This was the first day.

      ⁶Then God said, Let there be something to divide the water in two. ⁷So God made the air and placed some of the water above the air and some below it. ⁸God named the air sky. Evening passed, and morning came. This was the second day.

      ⁹Then God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered together so the dry land will appear. And it happened. ¹⁰God named the dry land earth and the water that was gathered together seas. God saw that this was good.

      ¹¹Then God said, Let the earth produce plants—some to make grain for seeds and others to make fruits with seeds in them. Every seed will produce more of its own kind of plant. And it happened. ¹²The earth produced plants with grain for seeds and trees that made fruits with seeds in them. Each seed grew its own kind of plant. God saw that all this was good. ¹³Evening passed, and morning came. This was the third day.

      ¹⁴Then God said, Let there be lights in the sky to separate day from night. These lights will be used for signs, seasons, days, and years. ¹⁵They will be in the sky to give light to the earth. And it happened.

      ¹⁶So God made the two large lights. He made the brighter light to rule the day and made the smaller light to rule the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷God put all these in the sky to shine on the earth, ¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that all these things were good. ¹⁹Evening passed, and morning came. This was the fourth day.

      ²⁰Then God said, Let the water be filled with living things, and let birds fly in the air above the earth.

      ²¹So God created the large sea animals and every living thing that moves in the sea. The sea is filled with these living things, with each one producing more of its own kind. He also made every bird that flies, and each bird produced more of its own kind. God saw that this was good. ²²God blessed them and said, Have many young ones so that you may grow in number. Fill the water of the seas, and let the birds grow in number on the earth. ²³Evening passed, and morning came. This was the fifth day.

      ²⁴Then God said, Let the earth be filled with animals, each producing more of its own kind. Let there be tame animals and small crawling animals and wild animals, and let each produce more of its kind. And it happened.

      ²⁵So God made the wild animals, the tame animals, and all the small crawling animals to produce more of their own kind. God saw that this was good.

      ²⁶Then God said, Let us make human beings in our image and likeness. And let them rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the tame animals, over all the earth, and over all the small crawling animals on the earth.

      ²⁷So God created human beings in his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female. ²⁸God blessed them and said, Have many children and grow in number. Fill the earth and be its master. Rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

      ²⁹God said, Look, I have given you all the plants that have grain for seeds and all the trees whose fruits have seeds in them. They will be food for you. ³⁰I have given all the green plants as food for every wild animal, every bird of the air, and every small crawling animal. And it happened. ³¹God looked at everything he had made, and it was very good. Evening passed, and morning came. This was the sixth day.

      The Seventh Day—Rest

      ² So the sky, the earth, and all that filled them were finished. ²By the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing, so he rested from all his work. ³God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day, because on that day he rested from all the work he had done in creating the world.

      The First People

      ⁴This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the LORD God first made the earth and the sky, ⁵there were still no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the LORD God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no person to care for the ground, ⁶but a mist would rise up from the earth and water all the ground.

      ⁷Then the LORD God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nose, and the man became a living person. ⁸Then the LORD God planted a garden in the east, in a place called Eden, and put the man he had formed into it. ⁹The LORD God caused every beautiful tree and every tree that was good for food to grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden, God put the tree that gives life and also the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil.

      ¹⁰A river flowed through Eden and watered the garden. From there the river branched out to become four rivers. ¹¹The first river, named Pishon, flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²The gold of that land is excellent. Bdellium and onyxn are also found there. ¹³The second river, named Gihon, flows around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴The third river, named Tigris, flows out of Assyria toward the east. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

      ¹⁵The LORD God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it. ¹⁶The LORD God commanded him, You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, ¹⁷but you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die!

      The First Woman

      ¹⁸Then the LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.

      ¹⁹From the ground God formed every wild animal and every bird in the sky, and he brought them to the man so the man could name them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all the tame animals, to the birds in the sky, and to all the wild animals. But Adamn did not find a helper that was right for him. ²¹So the LORD God caused the man to sleep very deeply, and while he was asleep, God removed one of the man’s ribs. Then God closed up the man’s skin at the place where he took the rib. ²²The LORD God used the rib from the man to make a woman, and then he brought the woman to the man.

      ²³And the man said,

      "Now, this is someone whose bones came from my bones,

      whose body came from my body.

      I will call her ‘woman,’

      because she was taken out of man."

      ²⁴So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body.

      ²⁵The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.

      Psalm 1:1–6

      Book 1

      Two Ways to Live

      ¹ Happy are those who don’t listen to the wicked, who don’t go where sinners go,

      who don’t do what evil people do.

      ²They love the LORD’s teachings,

      and they think about those teachings day and night.

      ³They are strong, like a tree planted by a river.

      The tree produces fruit in season,

      and its leaves don’t die.

      Everything they do will succeed.

      ⁴But wicked people are not like that.

      They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

      ⁵So the wicked will not escape God’s punishment.

      Sinners will not worship with God’s people.

      ⁶This is because the LORD takes care of his people,

      but the wicked will be destroyed.

      Proverbs 1:1–7

      The Importance of Proverbs

      ¹ These are the wise words of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.

      ²They teach wisdom and self-control;

      they will help you understand wise words.

      ³They will teach you how to be wise and self-controlled

      and will teach you to do what is honest and fair and right.

      ⁴They make the uneducated wise

      and give knowledge and sense to the young.

      ⁵Wise people can also listen and learn;

      even they can find good advice in these words.

      ⁶Then anyone can understand wise words and stories,

      the words of the wise and their riddles.

      ⁷Knowledge begins with respect for the LORD,

      but fools hate wisdom and discipline.

      Matthew 1:1–25

      The Family History of Jesus

      ¹ This is the family history of Jesus Christ. He came from the family of David, and David came from the family of Abraham.

      ²Abraham was the fathern of Isaac.

      Isaac was the father of Jacob.

      Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.

      ³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah.

      (Their mother was Tamar.)

      Perez was the father of Hezron.

      Hezron was the father of Ram.

      ⁴Ram was the father of Amminadab.

      Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.

      Nahshon was the father of Salmon.

      ⁵Salmon was the father of Boaz.

      (Boaz’s mother was Rahab.)

      Boaz was the father of Obed.

      (Obed’s mother was Ruth.)

      Obed was the father of Jesse.

      ⁶Jesse was the father of King David.

      David was the father of Solomon.

      (Solomon’s mother had been Uriah’s wife.)

      ⁷Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.

      Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.

      Abijah was the father of Asa.n

      ⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.

      Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.

      Jehoram was the ancestor of Uzziah.

      ⁹Uzziah was the father of Jotham.

      Jotham was the father of Ahaz.

      Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.

      ¹⁰Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.

      Manasseh was the father of Amon.

      Amon was the father of Josiah.

      ¹¹Josiah was the grandfather of Jehoiachinn and his brothers.

      (This was at the time that the people were taken to Babylon.)

      ¹²After they were taken to Babylon:

      Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.

      Shealtiel was the grandfather of Zerubbabel.

      ¹³Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.

      Abiud was the father of Eliakim.

      Eliakim was the father of Azor.

      ¹⁴Azor was the father of Zadok.

      Zadok was the father of Akim.

      Akim was the father of Eliud.

      ¹⁵Eliud was the father of Eleazar.

      Eleazar was the father of Matthan.

      Matthan was the father of Jacob.

      ¹⁶Jacob was the father of Joseph.

      Joseph was the husband of Mary,

      and Mary was the mother of Jesus.

      Jesus is called the Christ.

      ¹⁷So there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David. And there were fourteen generations from David until the people were taken to Babylon. And there were fourteen generations from the time when the people were taken to Babylon until Christ was born.

      The Birth of Jesus Christ

      ¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was engagedn to marry Joseph, but before they married, she learned she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Mary’s husband, Joseph, was a good man, he did not want to disgrace her in public, so he planned to divorce her secretly.

      ²⁰While Joseph thought about these things, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, "Joseph, descendant of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the baby in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus,n because he will save his people from their sins."

      ²²All this happened to bring about what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³The virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son, and they will name him Immanuel,n which means God is with us.

      ²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the Lord’s angel had told him to do. Joseph took Mary as his wife, ²⁵but he did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to the son. And Joseph named him Jesus.

      January 2

      Love Protects

      The

      LORD

      God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them.

      Genesis 3:21

      That simple sentence suggests three powerful scenes. Scene 1: God slays an animal. For the first time in the history of the earth, dirt is stained with blood. Innocent blood. The beast committed no sin. The creature did not deserve to die.

      Adam and Eve did. The couple deserves to die, but they live …

      Scene 2: Clothing is made. The shaper of the stars now becomes a tailor.

      And in Scene 3: God dresses them. The LORD … dressed them.

      Adam and Eve are on their way out of the garden. They’ve been told to leave, but now God tells them to stop. Those fig leaves, he says, shaking his head, will never do. And he produces some clothing. But he doesn’t throw the garments at their feet and tell them to get dressed. He dresses them himself. As a father would zip up the jacket of a preschooler. God covers them.

      from A Love Worth Giving

      Genesis 3:1—4:26

      The Beginning of Sin

      ³ Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?

      ²The woman answered the snake, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. ³But God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.’

      ⁴But the snake said to the woman, You will not die. ⁵God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil and you will be like God!

      ⁶The woman saw that the tree was beautiful, that its fruit was good to eat, and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

      ⁷Then, it was as if their eyes were opened. They realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves.

      ⁸Then they heard the LORD God walking in the garden during the cool part of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the trees in the garden. ⁹But the LORD God called to the man and said, Where are you?

      ¹⁰The man answered, I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.

      ¹¹God asked, Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?

      ¹²The man said, You gave this woman to me and she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.

      ¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, How could you have done such a thing?

      She answered, The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit.

      ¹⁴The LORD God said to the snake,

      "Because you did this,

      a curse will be put on you.

      You will be cursed as no other animal, tame or wild, will ever be.

      You will crawl on your stomach,

      and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

      ¹⁵I will make you and the woman

      enemies to each other.

      Your descendants and her descendants

      will be enemies.

      One of her descendants will crush your head,

      and you will bite his heel."

      ¹⁶Then God said to the woman,

      "I will cause you to have much trouble

      when you are pregnant,

      and when you give birth to children,

      you will have great pain.

      You will greatly desire your husband,

      but he will rule over you."

      ¹⁷Then God said to the man, "You listened to what your wife said, and you ate fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat.

      "So I will put a curse on the ground,

      and you will have to work very hard for your food.

      In pain you will eat its food

      all the days of your life.

      ¹⁸The ground will produce thorns and weeds for you,

      and you will eat the plants of the field.

      ¹⁹You will sweat and work hard for your food.

      Later you will return to the ground,

      because you were taken from it.

      You are dust,

      and when you die, you will return to the dust."

      ²⁰The man named his wife Eve,n because she was the mother of all the living.

      ²¹The LORD God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them. ²²Then the LORD God said, Humans have become like one of us; they know good and evil. We must keep them from eating some of the fruit from the tree of life, or they will live forever. ²³So the LORD God forced Adam out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴After God forced humans out of the garden, he placed angels and a sword of fire that flashed around in every direction on its eastern border. This kept people from getting to the tree of life.

      The First Family

      ⁴ Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.n Eve said, With the LORD’s help, I have given birth to a man. ²After that, Eve gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel took care of flocks, and Cain became a farmer.

      ³Later, Cain brought some food from the ground as a gift to God. ⁴Abel brought the best parts from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, ⁵but he did not accept Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry and felt rejected.

      ⁶The LORD asked Cain, Why are you angry? Why do you look so unhappy? ⁷If you do things well, I will accept you, but if you do not do them well, sin is ready to attack you. Sin wants you, but you must rule over it.

      ⁸Cain said to his brother Abel, Let’s go out into the field. While they were out in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

      ⁹Later, the LORD said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel?

      Cain answered, I don’t know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?

      ¹⁰Then the LORD said, What have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. ¹¹And now you will be cursed in your work with the ground, the same ground where your brother’s blood fell and where your hands killed him. ¹²You will work the ground, but it will not grow good crops for you anymore, and you will wander around on the earth.

      ¹³Then Cain said to the LORD, This punishment is more than I can stand! ¹⁴Today you have forced me to stop working the ground, and now I must hide from you. I must wander around on the earth, and anyone who meets me can kill me.

      ¹⁵The LORD said to Cain, No! If anyone kills you, I will punish that person seven times more. Then the LORD put a mark on Cain warning anyone who met him not to kill him.

      Cain’s Family

      ¹⁶So Cain went away from the LORD and lived in the land of Nod,n east of Eden. ¹⁷He had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. At that time Cain was building a city, which he named after his son Enoch. ¹⁸Enoch had a son named Irad, Irad had a son named Mehujael, Mehujael had a son named Methushael, and Methushael had a son named Lamech.

      ¹⁹Lamech married two women, Adah and Zillah. ²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal, who became the first person to live in tents and raise cattle. ²¹Jabal’s brother was Jubal, the first person to play the harp and flute. ²²Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who made tools out of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

      ²³Lamech said to his wives:

      "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice!

      You wives of Lamech, listen to what I say.

      I killed a man for wounding me,

      a young man for hitting me.

      ²⁴If Cain’s killer is punished seven times,

      then Lamech’s killer will be punished seventy-seven times."

      Adam and Eve Have a New Son

      ²⁵Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Sethn and said, God has given me another child. He will take the place of Abel, who was killed by Cain. ²⁶Seth also had a son, and they named him Enosh. At that time people began to pray to the LORD.

      Psalm 2:1–6

      The Lord’s Chosen King

      ² Why are the nations so angry? Why are the people making useless plans?

      ²The kings of the earth prepare to fight,

      and their leaders make plans together

      against the LORD

      and his appointed one.

      ³They say, "Let’s break the chains that hold us back

      and throw off the ropes that tie us down."

      ⁴But the one who sits in heaven laughs;

      the Lord makes fun of them.

      ⁵Then the LORD warns them

      and frightens them with his anger.

      ⁶He says, "I have appointed my own king

      to rule in Jerusalem on my holy mountain, Zion."

      Proverbs 1:8–9

      Warnings Against Evil

      ⁸My child, listen to your father’s teaching

      and do not forget your mother’s advice.

      ⁹Their teaching will be like flowers in your hair

      or a necklace around your neck.

      Matthew 2:1–23

      Wise Men Come to Visit Jesus

      ² Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king. When Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. ²They asked, Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.

      ³When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, as were all the people in Jerusalem. ⁴Herod called a meeting of all the leading priests and teachers of the law and asked them where the Christ would be born. ⁵They answered, "In the town of Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this in the Scriptures:

      ⁶‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

      are not just an insignificant village in Judah.

      A ruler will come from you

      who will be like a shepherd for my people Israel.’"

      Micah 5:2

      ⁷Then Herod had a secret meeting with the wise men and learned from them the exact time they first saw the star. ⁸He sent the wise men to Bethlehem, saying, Look carefully for the child. When you find him, come tell me so I can worship him too.

      ⁹After the wise men heard the king, they left. The star that they had seen in the east went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. ¹⁰When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy. ¹¹They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their own country by a different way.

      Jesus’ Parents Take Him to Egypt

      ¹³After they left, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and said, Get up! Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, because Herod is starting to look for the child so he can kill him. Stay in Egypt until I tell you to return.

      ¹⁴So Joseph got up and left for Egypt during the night with the child and his mother. ¹⁵And Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died. This happened to bring about what the Lord had said through the prophet: I called my son out of Egypt.n

      Herod Kills the Baby Boys

      ¹⁶When Herod saw that the wise men had tricked him, he was furious. So he gave an order to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and in the surrounding area who were two years old or younger. This was in keeping with the time he learned from the wise men. ¹⁷So what God had said through the prophet Jeremiah came true:

      ¹⁸"A voice was heard in Ramah

      of painful crying and deep sadness:

      Rachel crying for her children.

      She refused to be comforted,

      because her children are dead."

      Jeremiah 31:15

      Joseph and Mary Return

      ¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream while he was in Egypt. ²⁰The angel said, Get up! Take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, because the people who were trying to kill the child are now dead.

      ²¹So Joseph took the child and his mother and went to Israel. ²²But he heard that Archelaus was now king in Judea since his father Herod had died. So Joseph was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the area of Galilee, ²³to a town called Nazareth, and lived there. And so what God had said through the prophets came true: He will be called a Nazarene.n

      January 3

      A Holy Task

      Obey the

      LORD

      with great fear.

      Psalm 2:11

      Mary and Mary [Magdalene] knew a task had to be done—Jesus’ body had to be prepared for burial. Peter didn’t offer to do it. Andrew didn’t volunteer … So the two Marys decide to do it …

      I wonder if halfway to the tomb they had sat down and reconsidered. What if they’d looked at each other and shrugged, What’s the use? What if they had given up? What if one had thrown up her arms in frustration and bemoaned, I’m tired of being the only one who cares. Let Andrew do something for a change. Let Nathanael show some leadership.

      Whether or not they were tempted to, I’m glad they didn’t quit. That would have been tragic. You see, we know something they didn’t. We know the Father was watching. Mary and Mary thought they were alone. They weren’t. They thought their journey was unnoticed. They were wrong. God knew.

      from He Still Moves Stones

      Genesis 5:1—6:22

      Adam’s Family History

      ⁵ This is the family history of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them in his own likeness. ²He created them male and female, and on that day he blessed them and named them human beings.

      ³When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of another son in his likeness and image, and Adam named him Seth. ⁴After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

      ⁶When Seth was 105 years old, he had a son named Enosh. ⁷After Enosh was born, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸So Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

      ⁹When Enosh was 90 years old, he had a son named Kenan. ¹⁰After Kenan was born, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹So Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

      ¹²When Kenan was 70 years old, he had a son named Mahalalel. ¹³After Mahalalel was born, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴So Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

      ¹⁵When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he had a son named Jared. ¹⁶After Jared was born, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷So Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

      ¹⁸When Jared was 162 years old, he had a son named Enoch. ¹⁹After Enoch was born, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰So Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

      ²¹When Enoch was 65 years old, he had a son named Methuselah. ²²After Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God 300 years more and had other sons and daughters. ²³So Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴Enoch walked with God; one day Enoch could not be found, because God took him.

      ²⁵When Methuselah was 187 years old, he had a son named Lamech. ²⁶After Lamech was born, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷So Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

      ²⁸When Lamech was 182, he had a son. ²⁹Lamech named his son Noahn and said, He will comfort us in our work, which comes from the ground the LORD has cursed. ³⁰After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹So Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

      ³²After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

      The Human Race Becomes Evil

      ⁶ The number of people on earth began to grow, and daughters were born to them. ²When the sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful, they married any of them they chose. ³The LORD said, My Spirit will not remain in human beings forever, because they are flesh. They will live only 120 years.

      ⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also later. That was when the sons of God had sexual relations with the daughters of human beings. These women gave birth to children, who became famous and were the mighty warriors of long ago.

      ⁵The LORD saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked and that everything they thought about was evil. ⁶He was sorry he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. ⁷So the LORD said, I will destroy all human beings that I made on the earth. And I will destroy every animal and everything that crawls on the earth and the birds of the air, because I am sorry I have made them. ⁸But Noah pleased the LORD.

      Noah and the Great Flood

      ⁹This is the family history of Noah. Noah was a good man, the most innocent man of his time, and he walked with God. ¹⁰He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

      ¹¹People on earth did what God said was evil, and violence was everywhere. ¹²When God saw that everyone on the earth did only evil, ¹³he said to Noah, Because people have made the earth full of violence, I will destroy all of them from the earth. ¹⁴Build a boat of cypress wood for yourself. Make rooms in it and cover it inside and outside with tar. ¹⁵This is how big I want you to build the boat: four hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. ¹⁶Make an opening around the top of the boat that is eighteen inches high from the edge of the roof down. Put a door in the side of the boat. Make an upper, middle, and lower deck in it. ¹⁷I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy all living things that live under the sky, including everything that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will die. ¹⁸But I will make an agreement with you—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives will all go into the boat. ¹⁹Also, you must bring into the boat two of every living thing, male and female. Keep them alive with you. ²⁰Two of every kind of bird, animal, and crawling thing will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹Also gather some of every kind of food and store it on the boat as food for you and the animals.

      ²²Noah did everything that God commanded him.

      Psalm 2:7–12

      ⁷Now I will tell you what the LORD has declared:

      He said to me, "You are my son.

      Today I have become your father.

      ⁸If you ask me, I will give you the nations;

      all the people on earth will be yours.

      ⁹You will rule over them with an iron rod.

      You will break them into pieces like pottery."

      ¹⁰So, kings, be wise;

      rulers, learn this lesson.

      ¹¹Obey the LORD with great fear.

      Be happy, but tremble.

      ¹²Show that you are loyal to his son,

      or you will be destroyed by his anger,

      because he can quickly become angry.

      But happy are those who trust him for protection.

      Proverbs 1:10–19

      ¹⁰My child, if sinners try to lead you into sin,

      do not follow them.

      ¹¹They will say, "Come with us.

      Let’s ambush and kill someone;

      let’s attack some innocent people just for fun.

      ¹²Let’s swallow them alive, as death does;

      let’s swallow them whole, as the grave does.

      ¹³We will take all kinds of valuable things

      and fill our houses with stolen goods.

      ¹⁴Come join us,

      and we will share with you stolen goods."

      ¹⁵My child, do not go along with them;

      do not do what they do.

      ¹⁶They are eager to do evil

      and are quick to kill.

      ¹⁷It is useless to spread out a net

      right where the birds can see it.

      ¹⁸But sinners will fall into their own traps;

      they will only catch themselves!

      ¹⁹All greedy people end up this way;

      greed kills selfish people.

      Matthew 3:1–17

      The Work of John the Baptist

      ³ About that time John the Baptist began preaching in the desert area of Judea. ²John said, Change your hearts and lives because the kingdom of heaven is near. ³John the Baptist is the one Isaiah the prophet was talking about when he said:

      "This is a voice of one

      who calls out in the desert:

      ‘Prepare the way for the Lord.

      Make the road straight for him.’"

      Isaiah 40:3

      ⁴John’s clothes were made from camel’s hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food, he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁵Many people came from Jerusalem and Judea and all the area around the Jordan River to hear John. ⁶They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.

      ⁷Many of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to the place where John was baptizing people. When John saw them, he said, "You are snakes! Who warned you to run away from God’s coming punishment? ⁸Do the things that show you really have changed your hearts and lives. ⁹And don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you that God could make children for Abraham from these rocks. ¹⁰The ax is now ready to cut down the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.n

      ¹¹I baptize you with water to show that your hearts and lives have changed. But there is one coming after me who is greater than I am, whose sandals I am not good enough to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹²He will come ready to clean the grain, separating the good grain from the chaff. He will put the good part of the grain into his barn, but he will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.n

      Jesus Is Baptized by John

      ¹³At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River and wanted John to baptize him. ¹⁴But John tried to stop him, saying, Why do you come to me to be baptized? I need to be baptized by you!

      ¹⁵Jesus answered, Let it be this way for now. We should do all things that are God’s will. So John agreed to baptize Jesus.

      ¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Then heaven opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down on him like a dove. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with him.

      January 4

      A Leaf of Hope

      After seven days Noah again sent out the dove from the boat, and that evening it came back to him with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth.

      Genesis 8:10–11

      An olive leaf. Noah would have been happy to have the bird but to have the leaf! This leaf was more than foliage; this was promise. The bird brought more than a piece of a tree; it brought hope. For isn’t that what hope is? Hope is an olive leaf—evidence of dry land after a flood …

      Don’t we love the olive leaves of life? It appears the cancer may be in remission. I can help you with those finances. We’ll get through this together.

      What’s more, don’t we love the doves that bring them? When the father walks his son through his first broken heart, he gives him an olive leaf. When the wife of many years consoles the wife of a few months, when she tells her that conflicts come and all husbands are moody and these storms pass, you know what she is doing? She is giving an olive leaf.

      We love olive leaves. And we love those who give them.

      from A Love Worth Giving

      Genesis 7:1—8:22

      The Flood Begins

      ⁷ Then the LORD said to Noah, I have seen that you are the best person among the people of this time, so you and your family can go into the boat. ²Take with you seven pairs, each male with its female, of every kind of clean animal, and take one pair, each male with its female, of every kind of unclean animal. ³Take seven pairs of all the birds of the sky, each male with its female. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the flood. ⁴Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe off from the earth every living thing that I have made.

      ⁵Noah did everything the LORD commanded him.

      ⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came. ⁷He and his wife and his sons and their wives went into the boat to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸The clean animals, the unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls on the ground ⁹came to Noah. They went into the boat in groups of two, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰Seven days later the flood started.

      ¹¹When Noah was six hundred years old, the flood started. On the seventeenth day of the second month of that year the underground springs split open, and the clouds in the sky poured out rain. ¹²The rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

      ¹³On that same day Noah and his wife, his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives went into the boat. ¹⁴They had every kind of wild and tame animal, every kind of animal that crawls on the earth, and every kind of bird. ¹⁵Every creature that had the breath of life came to Noah in the boat in groups of two. ¹⁶One male and one female of every living thing came, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD closed the door behind them.

      ¹⁷Water flooded the earth for forty days, and as it rose it lifted the boat off the ground. ¹⁸The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on it above the earth. ¹⁹The water rose so much that even the highest mountains under the sky were covered by it. ²⁰It continued to rise until it was more than twenty feet above the mountains.

      ²¹All living things that moved on the earth died. This included all the birds, tame animals, wild animals, and creatures that swarm on the earth, as well as all human beings. ²²So everything on dry land that had the breath of life in it died. ²³God destroyed from the earth every living thing that was on the land—every man, animal, crawling thing, and bird of the sky. All that was left was Noah and what was with him in the boat. ²⁴And the waters continued to cover the earth for one hundred fifty days.

      The Flood Ends

      ⁸ But God remembered Noah and all the wild and tame animals with him in the boat. He made a wind blow over the earth, and the water went down. ²The underground springs stopped flowing, and the clouds in the sky stopped pouring down rain. ³–⁴The water that covered the earth began to go down. After one hundred fifty days it had gone down so much that the boat touched land again. It came to rest on one of the mountains of Araratn on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. ⁵The water continued to go down so that by the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains could be seen.

      ⁶Forty days later Noah opened the window he had made in the boat, and ⁷he sent out a raven. It flew here and there until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸Then Noah sent out a dove to find out if the water had dried up from the ground. ⁹The dove could not find a place to land because water still covered the earth, so it came back to the boat. Noah reached out his hand and took the bird and brought it back into the boat.

      ¹⁰After seven days Noah again sent out the dove from the boat, ¹¹and that evening it came back to him with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth. Then Noah knew that the ground was almost dry. ¹²Seven days later he sent the dove out again, but this time it did not come back.

      ¹³When Noah was six hundred and one years old, in the first day of the first month of that year, the water was dried up from the land. Noah removed the covering of the boat and saw that the land was dry. ¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was completely dry.

      ¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶You and your wife, your sons, and their wives should go out of the boat. ¹⁷Bring every animal out of the boat with you—the birds, animals, and everything that crawls on the earth. Let them have many young ones so that they might grow in number.

      ¹⁸So Noah went out with his sons, his wife, and

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