The Fall

¹Now uthe serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You1 shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, v‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴wBut the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,2 she took of its fruit xand ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, yand he ate. ⁷zThen the eyes of both were opened, aand they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool3 of the day, and the man and his wife bhid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”4 ¹⁰And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, cbecause I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹²The man said, d“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, e“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

and fdust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring5 and gher offspring;

hhe shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

¹⁶To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

iin pain you shall bring forth children.

jYour desire shall be contrary to6 your husband,

but he shall krule over you.”

¹⁷And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

lof which I commanded you,

‘You shall not eat of it,’

mcursed is the ground because of you;

nin pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

¹⁸thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

ofor you are dust,

and pto dust you shall return.”

²⁰The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.7 ²¹And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

²²Then the Lord God said, q“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand rand take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden sto work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the tcherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹hIn those days iJohn the Baptist came preaching in jthe wilderness of Judea, ²k“Repent, for lthe kingdom of heaven is at hand.”1 ³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

m“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

n‘Prepare2 the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’”

⁴Now John wore oa garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was plocusts and qwild honey. ⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, rconfessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of sthe Pharisees and tSadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, u“You brood of vvipers! Who warned you to flee from wthe wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruit xin keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not presume to say to yourselves, y‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from zthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. aEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹b“I baptize you with water cfor repentance, but dhe who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you ewith the Holy Spirit and ffire. ¹²His gwinnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and hgather his wheat into the barn, ibut the chaff he will burn with junquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³kThen Jesus came lfrom Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴mJohn would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, othe heavens were opened to him,3 and he psaw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷and behold, qa voice from heaven said, r“This is my beloved Son,4 with whom I am well pleased.”

Rebuilding the Altar

¹kWhen the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. ²Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and lZerubbabel the son of mShealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, nas it is written in the Law of Moses the oman of God. ³They set the altar in its place, pfor fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and qthey offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. ⁴rAnd they kept the Feast of Booths, sas it is written, tand offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, ⁵and after that the regular burnt uofferings, the offerings at the new moon vand at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord. ⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. ⁷So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, wand food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians xto bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, yaccording to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Rebuilding the Temple

⁸Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, zZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and zJeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They aappointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to bsupervise the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹And zJeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together bsupervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the csons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and brothers.

¹⁰And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, daccording to the directions of David king of Israel. ¹¹And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

e“For he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”

And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹²But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, fold men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

The Lame Beggar Healed

¹Now Peter and John were ogoing up to the temple at pthe hour of prayer, qthe ninth hour.1 ²And a man rlame from birth was being carried, swhom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate tto ask alms of those entering the temple. ³Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. ⁴And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” ⁵And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶But Peter said, u“I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. vIn the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” ⁷And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. ⁸And wleaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹And xall the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter Speaks in Solomon's Portico

¹¹yWhile he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in zthe portico called Solomon's. ¹²And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? ¹³aThe God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, bthe God of our fathers, cglorified his servant2 Jesus, whom dyou delivered over and edenied in the presence of Pilate, fwhen he had decided to release him. ¹⁴But you denied gthe Holy and hRighteous One, and iasked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵and you killed jthe Author of life, kwhom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶And lhis name—by mfaith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is nthrough Jesus3 has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷“And now, brothers, I know that oyou acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸But what God pforetold qby the mouth of all the prophets, that rhis Christ would ssuffer, he thus fulfilled. ¹⁹tRepent therefore, and uturn back, that vyour sins may be blotted out, ²⁰that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ wappointed for you, Jesus, ²¹xwhom heaven must receive until the time for yrestoring all the things about which zGod spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. ²²Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you aa prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen bto him in whatever he tells you. ²³And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet cshall be destroyed from the people.’ ²⁴And dall the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. ²⁵eYou are the sons of the prophets and of fthe covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, g‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ²⁶hGod, ihaving raised up his servant, sent him to you first, jto bless you kby turning every one of you from your wickedness.”