8 God remembered Noah, as well as all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. So God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. ² The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were also closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained. ³ The waters kept receding from the earth. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had decreased. ⁴ In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters receded continuously until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible.

⁶ Then at the end of forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark. ⁷ He sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground, ⁹ but the dove found no place to rest its foot, and it returned to him in the ark, because there was water on the surface of the whole earth. Noah reached out his hand, took the dove, and brought it back to him in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days. Then he sent the dove out of the ark again. ¹¹ The dove came back to him at evening, and there in its mouth was an olive leaf it had just plucked. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. ¹² He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again. This time it did not return to him anymore.

¹³ And so in the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked out. He saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

¹⁵ God spoke to Noah. He said, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark—you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of every sort that is with you, all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may swarm over the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

¹⁸ Noah went out with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives along with him. ¹⁹ Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever swarms on the earth went out of the ship, species by species.^[a]

⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed up into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ He said, “Look, I see heaven opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷ But they screamed at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and rushed at him with one purpose in mind. ⁵⁸ They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹ While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” After he said this, he fell asleep.

² Like newborn babies, crave the pure milk of the word^[a] so that by it you may grow up with the result being salvation. ³ Certainly^[b] you have tasted that the Lord is good!

Living Stones

⁴ As you come to him, the Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, in order to bring spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it says in Scripture:

⁷ Therefore, for you who believe, this is an honor. But for those who do not believe:

⁸ and,

Because they continue to disobey the word, they stumble over it. And that is the consequence appointed for them.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ At one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. At one time you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy.

No Greater Love—in Peace

14 “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many mansions.^[a] If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.^{[b] 3} And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am. ⁴ You know where I am going, and you know the way.”

⁵ “Lord, we don’t know where you are going,” Thomas replied, “so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. ⁷ If you know me, you would also know my Father.^[c] From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸ “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that is enough for us.”

⁹ “Have I been with you so long,” Jesus answered, “and you still do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I am telling you I am not speaking on my own, but the Father who remains in me is doing his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. Or else believe^[d] because of the works themselves.

¹² “Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me will do the works that I am doing. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me^[e] for anything in my name, I will do it.