To The Word – Day 3

₁Then Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she became pregnant. She bore a son and said, “By the LORD's help I have acquired a son.” So she named him Cain. ₂Later she gave birth to another son, Abel. Abel became a shepherd, but Cain was a farmer. ₃After some time, Cain brought some of his harvest and gave it as an offering to the LORD. ₄Then Abel brought the first lamb born to one of his sheep, killed it, and gave the best parts of it as an offering. The LORD was pleased with Abel and his offering, ₅but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious, and he scowled in anger. ₆Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why that scowl on your face? ₇If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling; but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it.”

₈Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let's go out in the fields.” When they were out in the fields, Cain turned on his brother and killed him.

₉The LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

He answered, “I don't know. Am I supposed to take care of my brother?”

₁₀Then the LORD said, “Why have you done this terrible thing? Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground, like a voice calling for revenge. ₁₁You are placed under a curse and can no longer farm the soil. It has soaked up your brother's blood as if it had opened its mouth to receive it when you killed him. ₁₂If you try to grow crops, the soil will not produce anything; you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

₁₃And Cain said to the LORD, “This punishment is too hard for me to bear. ₁₄You are driving me off the land and away from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me.”

₁₅But the LORD answered, “No. If anyone kills you, seven lives will be taken in revenge.” So the LORD put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who met him not to kill him. ₁₆And Cain went away from the LORD's presence and lived in a land called “Wandering”, which is east of Eden.

₁₇Cain and his wife had a son and named him Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son. ₁₈Enoch had a son named Irad, who was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael had a son named Methushael, who was the father of Lamech. ₁₉Lamech had two wives, Adah and Zillah. ₂₀Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the ancestor of those who raise livestock and live in tents. ₂₁His brother was Jubal, the ancestor of all musicians who play the harp and the flute. ₂₂Zillah gave birth to Tubal Cain, who made all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal Cain was Naamah.

₂₃Lamech said to his wives,

₂₅Adam and his wife had another son. She said, “God has given me a son to replace Abel, whom Cain killed.” So she named him Seth. ₂₆Seth had a son whom he named Enosh. It was then that people began using the LORD's holy name in worship.

₁This is the list of the descendants of Adam. (When God created human beings, he made them like himself. ₂He created them male and female, blessed them, and named them “Humanity”.) ₃When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was like him, and he named him Seth. ₄After that, Adam lived another 800 years. He had other children ₅and died at the age of 930.

₆When Seth was 105, he had a son, Enosh, ₇and then lived another 807 years. He had other children ₈and died at the age of 912.

₉When Enosh was ninety, he had a son, Kenan, ₁₀and then lived another 815 years. He had other children ₁₁and died at the age of 905.

₁₂When Kenan was seventy, he had a son, Mahalalel, ₁₃and then lived another 840 years. He had other children ₁₄and died at the age of 910.

₁₅When Mahalalel was 65, he had a son, Jared, ₁₆and then lived another 830 years. He had other children ₁₇and died at the age of 895.

₁₈When Jared was 162, he had a son, Enoch, ₁₉and then lived another 800 years. He had other children ₂₀and died at the age of 962.

₂₁When Enoch was 65, he had a son, Methuselah. ₂₂After that, Enoch lived in fellowship with God for 300 years and had other children. ₂₃He lived to be 365 years old. ₂₄He spent his life in fellowship with God, and then he disappeared, because God took him away.

₂₅When Methuselah was 187, he had a son, Lamech, ₂₆and then lived another 782 years. He had other children ₂₇and died at the age of 969.

₂₈When Lamech was 182, he had a son, ₂₉and said, “From the very ground on which the LORD put a curse, this child will bring us relief from all our hard work”; so he named him Noah. ₃₀Lamech lived another 595 years. He had other children ₃₁and died at the age of 777.

₃₂After Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

₁When the human race had spread all over the world, and daughters were being born, ₂some of the heavenly beings saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked. ₃Then the LORD said, “I will not allow people to live for ever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years.” ₄In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and the heavenly beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago.

₅When the LORD saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time, ₆he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret ₇that he said, “I will wipe out these people I have created, and also the animals and the birds, because I am sorry that I made any of them.” ₈But the LORD was pleased with Noah.

_9-10This is the story of Noah. He had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah had no faults and was the only good man of his time. He lived in fellowship with God, ₁₁but everyone else was evil in God's sight, and violence had spread everywhere. ₁₂God looked at the world and saw that it was evil, for the people were all living evil lives.

₁₃God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to the whole human race. I will destroy them completely, because the world is full of their violent deeds. ₁₄Build a boat for yourself out of good timber; make rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out. ₁₅Make it 133 metres long, 22 metres wide, and thirteen metres high. ₁₆Make a roof for the boat and leave a space of 44 centimetres between the roof and the sides. Build it with three decks and put a door in the side. ₁₇I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die, ₁₈but I will make a covenant with you. Go into the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. _19-20Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and of every kind of bird, in order to keep them alive. ₂₁Take along all kinds of food for you and for them.” ₂₂Noah did everything that God commanded.

₁The LORD said to Noah, “Go into the boat with your whole family; I have found that you are the only one in all the world who does what is right. ₂Take with you seven pairs of each kind of ritually clean animal, but only one pair of each kind of unclean animal. ₃Take also seven pairs of each kind of bird. Do this so that every kind of animal and bird will be kept alive to reproduce again on the earth. ₄Seven days from now I am going to send rain that will fall for forty days and nights, in order to destroy all the living beings that I have made.” ₅And Noah did everything that the LORD commanded.

₆Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth. ₇He and his wife, and his sons and their wives, went into the boat to escape the flood. ₈A male and a female of every kind of animal and bird, whether ritually clean or unclean, ₉went into the boat with Noah, as God had commanded. ₁₀Seven days later the flood came.

₁₁When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened, ₁₂and rain fell on the earth for forty days and nights. ₁₃On that same day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. ₁₄With them went every kind of animal, domestic and wild, large and small, and every kind of bird. ₁₅A male and a female of each kind of living being went into the boat with Noah, ₁₆as God had commanded. Then the LORD shut the door behind Noah.

₁₇The flood continued for forty days, and the water became deep enough for the boat to float. ₁₈The water became deeper, and the boat drifted on the surface. ₁₉It became so deep that it covered the highest mountains; ₂₀it went on rising until it was about seven metres above the tops of the mountains. ₂₁Every living being on the earth died — every bird, every animal, and every person. ₂₂Everything on earth that breathed died. ₂₃The LORD destroyed all living beings on the earth — human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat. ₂₄The water did not start going down for 150 days.

₁The Pharisees heard that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John. ₂(Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; only his disciples did.) ₃So when Jesus heard what was being said, he left Judea and went back to Galilee; ₄on his way there he had to go through Samaria.

₅In Samaria he came to a town named Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ₆Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

₇A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” ₈(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)

₉The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan — so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)

₁₀Jesus answered, “If only you knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

₁₁“Sir,” the woman said, “you haven't got a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? ₁₂It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his sons and his flocks all drank from it. You don't claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”

₁₃Jesus answered, “All those who drink this water will be thirsty again, ₁₄but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring which will provide him with life-giving water and give him eternal life.”

₁₅“Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.”

₁₆“Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”

₁₇“I haven't got a husband,” she answered.

Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you haven't got a husband. ₁₈You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”

₁₉“I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. ₂₀“My Samaritan ancestors worshipped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”

₂₁Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ₂₂You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. ₂₃But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. ₂₄God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”

₂₅The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

₂₆Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”

₂₇At that moment Jesus' disciples returned, and they were greatly surprised to find him talking with a woman. But none of them said to her, “What do you want?” or asked him, “Why are you talking with her?”

₂₈Then the woman left her water jar, went back to the town, and said to the people there, ₂₉“Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” ₃₀So they left the town and went to Jesus.

₃₁In the meantime the disciples were begging Jesus, “Teacher, have something to eat!”

₃₂But he answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

₃₃So the disciples started asking among themselves, “Could somebody have brought him food?”

₃₄“My food,” Jesus said to them, “is to obey the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to do. ₃₅You have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest.’ But I tell you, take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested! ₃₆The one who reaps the harvest is being paid and gathers the crops for eternal life; so another who sows and the one who reaps will be glad together. ₃₇The saying is true, ‘One sows, another reaps.’ ₃₈I have sent you to reap a harvest in a field where you did not work; others worked there, and you profit from their work.”

₃₉Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ₄₀So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days.

₄₁Many more believed because of his message, ₄₂and they said to the woman, “We believe now, not because of what you said, but because we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he really is the Saviour of the world.”

₄₃After spending two days there, Jesus left and went to Galilee. ₄₄For he himself had said, “A prophet is not respected in his own country.” ₄₅When he arrived in Galilee, the people there welcomed him, because they had gone to the Passover Festival in Jerusalem and had seen everything that he had done during the festival.

₄₆Then Jesus went back to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. A government official was there whose son was ill in Capernaum. ₄₇When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to go to Capernaum and heal his son, who was about to die. ₄₈Jesus said to him, “None of you will ever believe unless you see miracles and wonders.”

₄₉“Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.”

₅₀Jesus said to him, “Go, your son will live!”

The man believed Jesus' words and went. ₅₁On his way home his servants met him with the news, “Your boy is going to live!”

₅₂He asked them what time it was when his son got better, and they answered, “It was one o'clock yesterday afternoon when the fever left him.” ₅₃Then the father remembered it was at that very hour that Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his family believed.

₅₄This was the second miracle that Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

₁After this, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a religious festival. ₂Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool with five porches; in Hebrew it is called Bethzatha. ₃A large crowd of sick people were lying in the porches — the blind, the lame, and the paralysed. ₅A man was there who had been ill for 38 years. ₆Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that the man had been ill for such a long time; so he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

₇The sick man answered, “Sir, I have no one here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first.”

₈Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.” ₉Immediately the man got well; he picked up his mat and started walking.

The day this happened was a Sabbath, ₁₀so the Jewish authorities told the man who had been healed, “This is a Sabbath, and it is against our Law for you to carry your mat.”

₁₁He answered, “The man who made me well told me to pick up my mat and walk.”

₁₂They asked him, “Who is the man who told you to do this?”

₁₃But the man who had been healed did not know who Jesus was, for there was a crowd in that place, and Jesus had slipped away.

₁₄Afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “Listen, you are well now; so stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

₁₅Then the man left and told the Jewish authorities that it was Jesus who had healed him. ₁₆So they began to persecute Jesus, because he had done this healing on a Sabbath. ₁₇Jesus answered them, “My Father is always working, and I too must work.”

₁₈This saying made the Jewish authorities all the more determined to kill him; not only had he broken the Sabbath law, but he had said that God was his own Father and in this way had made himself equal with God.

₁₉So Jesus answered them, “I am telling you the truth: the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does. ₂₀For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. He will show him even greater things to do than this, and you will all be amazed. ₂₁Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, in the same way the Son gives life to those he wants to. ₂₂Nor does the Father himself judge anyone. He has given his Son the full right to judge, ₂₃so that all will honour the Son in the same way as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him.

₂₄“I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life. ₂₅I am telling you the truth: the time is coming — the time has already come — when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will come to life. ₂₆Just as the Father is himself the source of life, in the same way he has made his Son to be the source of life. ₂₇And he has given the Son the right to judge, because he is the Son of Man. ₂₈Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice ₂₉and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned.

₃₀“I can do nothing on my own authority; I judge only as God tells me, so my judgement is right, because I am not trying to do what I want, but only what he who sent me wants.

₃₁“If I testify on my own behalf, what I say is not to be accepted as real proof. ₃₂But there is someone else who testifies on my behalf, and I know that what he says about me is true. ₃₃John is the one to whom you sent your messengers, and he spoke on behalf of the truth. ₃₄It is not that I must have a human witness; I say this only in order that you may be saved. ₃₅John was like a lamp, burning and shining, and you were willing for a while to enjoy his light. ₃₆But I have a witness on my behalf which is even greater than the witness that John gave: what I do, that is, the deeds my Father gave me to do, these speak on my behalf and show that the Father has sent me. ₃₇And the Father, who sent me, also testifies on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his face, ₃₈and you do not keep his message in your hearts, for you do not believe in the one whom he sent. ₃₉You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me! ₄₀Yet you are not willing to come to me in order to have life.

₄₁“I am not looking for human praise. ₄₂But I know what kind of people you are, and I know that you have no love for God in your hearts. ₄₃I have come with my Father's authority, but you have not received me; when, however, someone comes with his own authority, you will receive him. ₄₄You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me? ₄₅Do not think, however, that I am the one who will accuse you to my Father. Moses, in whom you have put your hope, is the very one who will accuse you. ₄₆If you had really believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. ₄₇But since you do not believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?”