Wednesday 19 February 2025

6At the end of forty days,Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,7and he sent out a raven.It went back and forth,until the waters were dried up from the earth.8He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground,9but the dove found no place to rest her foot,and she returned into the ship to him,for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth.He put out his hand,and took her, and brought her to him into the ship.10He waited yet another seven days;and again he sent the dove out of the ship.11The dove came back to him at evening and,behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf.So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth.12He waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove;and she didn’t return to him any more.

13In the six hundred first year,in the first month,the first day of the month,the waters were dried up from the earth.Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked.He saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

· · · verses 14–19 are not read20Noah built an altar to the Lord,and took of every clean animal,and of every clean bird,and offered burnt offerings on the altar.21The Lord smelled the pleasant aroma.The Lord said in his heart,“I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sakebecause the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done.22While the earth remains,seed time and harvest,and cold and heat,and summer and winter,and day and night will not cease.”

12What will I give to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?13I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the Lord’s name.

14I will pay my vows to the Lord,yes, in the presence of all his people.15Precious in the Lord’s sight is the death of his saints.

18I will pay my vows to the Lord,yes, in the presence of all his people,19in the courts of the Lord’s house,in the middle of you, Jerusalem.Praise the Lord!

22He came to Bethsaida.They brought a blind man to himand begged him to touch him.23He took hold of the blind man by the hand,and brought him out of the village.When he had spat on his eyes,and laid his hands on him,he asked him if he saw anything.

24He looked up, and said,“I see men, but I see them like walking trees.”

25Then again he laid his hands on his eyes.He looked intently,and was restored, and saw everyone clearly.26He sent him away to his house,saying, “Don’t enter into the village,nor tell anyone in the village.”