The Fall

1 Now ^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’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but 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.’” 4 ^wBut the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So 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. 7 ^zThen the eyes of both were opened, ^aand they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8 And 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”⁴ 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, ^cbecause I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, ^d“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then 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.”

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

16 To the woman he said,

17 And to Adam he said,

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

22 Then 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—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden ^sto work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He 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

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

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

7 But 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? 8 Bear fruit ^xin keeping with repentance. 9 And 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. 10 Even 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.

11 ^b“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. 12 His ^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

13 ^kThen Jesus came ^lfrom Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 ^mJohn would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And 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; 17 and behold, ^qa voice from heaven said, ^r“This is my beloved Son,⁴ with whom I am well pleased.”

Rebuilding the Altar

1 ^kWhen the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then 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. 3 They 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. 4 ^rAnd 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, 5 and 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. 6 From 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. 7 So 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

8 Now 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. 9 And ^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.

10 And 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. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

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. 12 But 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, 13 so 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

1 Now Peter and John were ^ogoing up to the temple at ^pthe hour of prayer, ^qthe ninth hour.¹ 2 And 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. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But 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!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And ^wleaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And ^xall the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and 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

11 ^yWhile he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in ^zthe portico called Solomon’s. 12 And 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? 13 ^aThe 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. 14 But you denied ^gthe Holy and ^hRighteous One, and ⁱasked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed ^jthe Author of life, ^kwhom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And ^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. 18 But what God ^pforetold ^qby the mouth of all the prophets, that ^rhis Christ would ^ssuffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 ^tRepent therefore, and ^uturn back, that ^vyour sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ ^wappointed for you, Jesus, 21 ^xwhom heaven must receive until the time for ^yrestoring all the things about which ^zGod spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses 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. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet ^cshall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And ^dall the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 ^eYou 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.’ 26 ^hGod, ⁱhaving raised up his servant, sent him to you first, ^jto bless you ^kby turning every one of you from your wickedness.”