The Berean Pursuit
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things. But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man his blood will be shed;
for in His own image
God has made mankind.
But as for you,
be fruitful and multiply;
spread out across the earth
and multiply upon it."
Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, "Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth-every living thing that came out of the ark. And I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth."
So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth."
The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father's nakedness.
When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
"Cursed be Canaan!
A servant of servants
shall he be to his brothers."
He also declared:
"Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
May God expand the territory of Japheth;
may he dwell in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his servant."
After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
This is the account of Noah's sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.
The sons of Japheth:
Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
The sons of Gomer:
Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
And the sons of Javan:
Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites. From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.
The sons of Ham:
Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
The sons of Cush:
Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca.
And the sons of Raamah:
Sheba and Dedan.
Cush was the father of Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD." His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city of Calah.
Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites, the Pathrusites, the Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and the Caphtorites.
And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.
Later the Canaanite clans were scattered, and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.
The sons of Shem:
Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
The sons of Aram:
Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.
Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.
And Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. Their territory extended from Mesha to Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.
All these are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their generations and nations. From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.
Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
"Come," they said, "let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth."
Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. And the LORD said, "If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech."
So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.
This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. And after he had become the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. And after he had become the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. And after he had become the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. And after he had become the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. And after he had become the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. And after he had become the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. During his father Terah's lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram's wife was named Sarai, and Nahor's wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore.
And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said, "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop-one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold."
Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
As soon as Jesus was alone with the Twelve and those around Him, they asked Him about the parable.
He replied, "The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, so that,
'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn
and be forgiven.'"
Then Jesus said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The farmer sows the word. Some are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
Some are like the seeds sown on rocky ground. They hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But they themselves have no root, and they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Still others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, receive it, and produce a crop-thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold."
Jesus also said to them, "Does anyone bring in a lamp to put it under a basket or under a bed? Doesn't he set it on a stand? For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light.
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
He went on to say, "Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you. For whoever has will be given more. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."
Jesus also said, "The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how. All by itself the earth produces a crop-first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens within. And as soon as the grain is ripe, he swings the sickle, because the harvest has come."
Then He asked, "To what can we compare the kingdom of God? With what parable shall we present it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds sown upon the earth. But after it is planted, it grows to be the largest of all garden plants and puts forth great branches, so that the birds of the air nest in its shade."
With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand. He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.
When that evening came, He said to His disciples, "Let us cross to the other side." After they had dismissed the crowd, they took Jesus with them, since He was already in the boat. And there were other boats with Him.
Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped. But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, "Teacher, don't You care that we are perishing?"
Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. "Silence!" He commanded. "Be still!" And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm.
"Why are you so afraid?" He asked. "Do you still have no faith?"
Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, "Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"