Discovery Scripture Passages
Scriptures are from The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 1:1-25
1 In the beginning God created the sky and the earth.
2 The earth was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God’s Spirit was moving over the water.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, so he divided the light from the darkness.
5 God named the light “day” and the darkness “night.” Evening passed, and morning came. This was the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be something to divide the water in two.”
7 So God made the air and placed some of the water above the air and some below it.
8 God named the air “sky.” Evening passed, and morning came. This was the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered together so the dry land will appear.” And it happened.
10 God named the dry land “earth” and the water that was gathered together “seas.” God saw that this was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce plants—some to make grain for seeds and others to make fruits with seeds in them. Every seed will produce more of its own kind of plant.” And it happened.
12 The earth produced plants with grain for seeds and trees that made fruits with seeds in them. Each seed grew its own kind of plant. God saw that all this was good.
13 Evening passed, and morning came. This was the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate day from night. These lights will be used for signs, seasons, days, and years.
15 They will be in the sky to give light to the earth.” And it happened.
16 So God made the two large lights. He made the brighter light to rule the day and made the smaller light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
17 God put all these in the sky to shine on the earth,
18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that all these things were good.
19 Evening passed, and morning came. This was the fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the water be filled with living things, and let birds fly in the air above the earth.”
21 So God created the large sea animals and every living thing that moves in the sea. The sea is filled with these living things, with each one producing more of its own kind. He also made every bird that flies, and each bird produced more of its own kind. God saw that this was good.
22 God blessed them and said, “Have many young ones so that you may grow in number. Fill the water of the seas, and let the birds grow in number on the earth.”
23 Evening passed, and morning came. This was the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth be filled with animals, each producing more of its own kind. Let there be tame animals and small crawling animals and wild animals, and let each produce more of its kind.” And it happened.
25 So God made the wild animals, the tame animals, and all the small crawling animals to produce more of their own kind. God saw that this was good.
Genesis 3: 1-24
1 Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, “Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”
2 The woman answered the snake, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden.
3 But God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die.
5 God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil and you will be like God!”
6 The woman saw that the tree was beautiful, that its fruit was good to eat, and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
7 Then, it was as if their eyes were opened. They realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves.
8 Then they heard the Lord God walking in the garden during the cool part of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said, “Where are you?”
10 The man answered, “I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
11 God asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “You gave this woman to me and she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “How could you have done such a thing?”
She answered, “The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit.”
14 The Lord God said to the snake,
“Because you did this,
a curse will be put on you.
You will be cursed as no other animal, tame or wild, will ever be.
You will crawl on your stomach,
and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will make you and the woman
enemies to each other.
Your descendants and her descendants
will be enemies.
One of her descendants will crush your head,
and you will bite his heel.”
16 Then God said to the woman,
“I will cause you to have much trouble
when you are pregnant,
and when you give birth to children,
you will have great pain.
You will greatly desire your husband,
but he will rule over you.”
17 Then God said to the man, “You listened to what your wife said, and you ate fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat.
“So I will put a curse on the ground,
and you will have to work very hard for your food.
In pain you will eat its food
all the days of your life.
18 The ground will produce thorns and weeds for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 You will sweat and work hard for your food.
Later you will return to the ground,
because you were taken from it.
You are dust,
and when you die, you will return to the dust.”
20 The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Humans have become like one of us; they know good and evil. We must keep them from eating some of the fruit from the tree of life, or they will live forever.”
23 So the Lord God forced Adam out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
24 After God forced humans out of the garden, he placed angels and a sword of fire that flashed around in every direction on its eastern border. This kept people from getting to the tree of life.
Genesis 12:1-5
1 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you.
I will make you famous,
and you will be a blessing to others.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and I will place a curse on those who harm you.
And all the people on earth
will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old.
5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the servants they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.
Psalm 32: 1-11
1 Happy is the person
whose sins are forgiven,
whose wrongs are pardoned.
2 Happy is the person
whom the Lord does not consider guilty
and in whom there is nothing false.
3 When I kept things to myself,
I felt weak deep inside me.
I moaned all day long.
4 Day and night you punished me.
My strength was gone as in the summer heat.Selah
5 Then I confessed my sins to you
and didn’t hide my guilt.
I said, “I will confess my sins to the Lord,”
and you forgave my guilt.Selah
6 For this reason, all who obey you
should pray to you while they still can.
When troubles rise like a flood,
they will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place.
You protect me from my troubles
and fill me with songs of salvation.Selah
8 The Lord says, “I will make you wise and show you where to go.
I will guide you and watch over you.
9 So don’t be like a horse or donkey,
that doesn’t understand.
They must be led with bits and reins,
or they will not come near you.”
10 Wicked people have many troubles,
but the Lord’s love surrounds those who trust him.
11 Good people, rejoice and be happy in the Lord.
Sing all you whose hearts are right.
Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12
13 The Lord says, “See, my servant will act wisely.
People will greatly honor and respect him.
14 Many people were shocked when they saw him.
His appearance was so damaged he did not look like a man;
his form was so changed they could barely tell he was human.
15 But now he will surprise many nations.
Kings will be amazed and shut their mouths.
They will see things they had not been told about him,
and they will understand things they had not heard.”
1 Who would have believed what we heard?
Who saw the Lord’s power in this?
2 He grew up like a small plant before the Lord,
like a root growing in a dry land.
He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him;
there was nothing in his appearance to make us desire him.
3 He was hated and rejected by people.
He had much pain and suffering.
People would not even look at him.
He was hated, and we didn’t even notice him.
4 But he took our suffering on him
and felt our pain for us.
We saw his suffering
and thought God was punishing him.
5 But he was wounded for the wrong we did;
he was crushed for the evil we did.
The punishment, which made us well, was given to him,
and we are healed because of his wounds.
6 We all have wandered away like sheep;
each of us has gone his own way.
But the Lord has put on him the punishment
for all the evil we have done.
7 He was beaten down and punished,
but he didn’t say a word.
He was like a lamb being led to be killed.
He was quiet, as a sheep is quiet while its wool is being cut;
he never opened his mouth.
8 Men took him away roughly and unfairly.
He died without children to continue his family.
He was put to death;
he was punished for the sins of my people.
9 He was buried with wicked men,
and he died with the rich.
He had done nothing wrong,
and he had never lied.
10 But it was the Lord who decided
to crush him and make him suffer.
The Lord made his life a penalty offering,
but he will still see his descendants and live a long life.
He will complete the things the Lord wants him to do.
11 “After his soul suffers many things,
he will see life and be satisfied.
My good servant will make many people right with God;
he will carry away their sins.
12 For this reason I will make him a great man among people,
and he will share in all things with those who are strong.
He willingly gave his life
and was treated like a criminal.
But he carried away the sins of many people
and asked forgiveness for those who sinned.”
Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20
26 During Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
27 to a virgin. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary.
28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you.”
29 But Mary was very startled by what the angel said and wondered what this greeting might mean.
30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has shown you his grace.
31 Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of King David, his ancestor.
33 He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. For this reason the baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God.
36 Now Elizabeth, your relative, is also pregnant with a son though she is very old. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for six months.
37 God can do anything!”
38 Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!” Then the angel went away.
1 At that time, Augustus Caesar sent an order that all people in the countries under Roman rule must list their names in a register.
2 This was the first registration; it was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
3 And all went to their own towns to be registered.
4 So Joseph left Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and went to the town of Bethlehem in Judea, known as the town of David. Joseph went there because he was from the family of David.
5 Joseph registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was now pregnant.
6 While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to have the baby,
7 and she gave birth to her first son. Because there were no rooms left in the inn, she wrapped the baby with pieces of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough.
8 That night, some shepherds were in the fields nearby watching their sheep.
9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord was shining around them, and they became very frightened.
10 The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news that will be a great joy to all the people.
11 Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord.
12 This is how you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box.”
13 Then a very large group of angels from heaven joined the first angel, praising God and saying:
14 “Give glory to God in heaven,
and on earth let there be peace among the people who please God.”
15 When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem. Let’s see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So the shepherds went quickly and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in a feeding trough.
17 When they had seen him, they told what the angels had said about this child.
18 Everyone was amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
19 But Mary treasured these things and continued to think about them.
20 Then the shepherds went back to their sheep, praising God and thanking him for everything they had seen and heard. It had been just as the angel had told them.
John 3:1-21
1 There was a man named Nicodemus who was one of the Pharisees and an important Jewish leader.
2 One night Nicodemus came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we know you are a teacher sent from God, because no one can do the miracles you do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s kingdom.”
4 Nicodemus said, “But if a person is already old, how can he be born again? He cannot enter his mother’s womb again. So how can a person be born a second time?”
5 But Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born from water and the Spirit, you cannot enter God’s kingdom.
6 Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit.
7 Don’t be surprised when I tell you, ‘You must all be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “How can this happen?”
10 Jesus said, “You are an important teacher in Israel, and you don’t understand these things?
11 I tell you the truth, we talk about what we know, and we tell about what we have seen, but you don’t accept what we tell you.
12 I have told you about things here on earth, and you do not believe me. So you will not believe me if I tell you about things of heaven.
13 The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is the One who came down from heaven—the Son of Man.
14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must also be lifted up.
15 So that everyone who believes can have eternal life in him.
16 “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
17 God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him.
18 People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. Those who do not believe have already been judged guilty, because they have not believed in God’s one and only Son.
19 They are judged by this fact: The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things.
20 All who do evil hate the light and will not come to the light, because it will show all the evil things they do.
21 But those who follow the true way come to the light, and it shows that the things they do were done through God.”
Mark 4:35-41
35 That evening, Jesus said to his followers, “Let’s go across the lake.”
36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him in the boat just as he was. There were also other boats with them.
37 A very strong wind came up on the lake. The waves came over the sides and into the boat so that it was already full of water.
38 Jesus was at the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a cushion. His followers woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are drowning!”
39 Jesus stood up and commanded the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind stopped, and it became completely calm.
40 Jesus said to his followers, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 The followers were very afraid and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
John 11:1-44
1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany, where Mary and her sister Martha lived.
2 Mary was the woman who later put perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Mary’s brother was Lazarus, the man who was now sick.
3 So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. It is for the glory of God, to bring glory to the Son of God.”
5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 But when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.
7 Then Jesus said to his followers, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 The followers said, “But Teacher, some people there tried to stone you to death only a short time ago. Now you want to go back there?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the daylight, he will not stumble, because he can see by this world’s light.
10 But if anyone walks at night, he stumbles because there is no light to help him see.”
11 After Jesus said this, he added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him.”
12 The followers said, “But Lord, if he is only asleep, he will be all right.”
13 Jesus meant that Lazarus was dead, but his followers thought he meant Lazarus was really sleeping.
14 So then Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes I was not there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him now.”
16 Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other followers, “Let us also go so that we can die with him.”
17 When Jesus arrived, he learned that Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days.
18 Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem.
19 Many of the Jews had come there to comfort Martha and Mary about their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed home.
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask.”
23 Jesus said, “Your brother will rise and live again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know that he will rise and live again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will have life even if they die.
26 And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe this?”
27 Martha answered, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the One coming to the world.”
28 After Martha said this, she went back and talked to her sister Mary alone. Martha said, “The Teacher is here and he is asking for you.”
29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus.
30 Jesus had not yet come into the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
31 The Jews were with Mary in the house, comforting her. When they saw her stand and leave quickly, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to cry there.
32 But Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw Mary crying and the Jews who came with her also crying, he was upset and was deeply troubled.
34 He asked, “Where did you bury him?”
“Come and see, Lord,” they said.
35 Jesus cried.
36 So the Jews said, “See how much he loved him.”
37 But some of them said, “If Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man, why couldn’t he keep Lazarus from dying?”
38 Again feeling very upset, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave with a large stone covering the entrance.
39 Jesus said, “Move the stone away.”
Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “But, Lord, it has been four days since he died. There will be a bad smell.”
40 Then Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they moved the stone away from the entrance. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me.
42 I know that you always hear me, but I said these things because of the people here around me. I want them to believe that you sent me.”
43 After Jesus said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with pieces of cloth, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take the cloth off of him and let him go.”
Luke 23:26-49
26 As they led Jesus away, Simon, a man from Cyrene, was coming in from the fields. They forced him to carry Jesus’ cross and to walk behind him.
27 A large crowd of people was following Jesus, including some women who were sad and crying for him.
28 But Jesus turned and said to them, “Women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. 29 The time is coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the women who cannot have children and who have no babies to nurse.’
30 Then people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ And they will say to the hills, ‘Cover us!’
31 If they act like this now when life is good, what will happen when bad times come?”
32 There were also two criminals led out with Jesus to be put to death.
33 When they came to a place called the Skull, the soldiers crucified Jesus and the criminals—one on his right and the other on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.”
The soldiers threw lots to decide who would get his clothes.
35 The people stood there watching. And the leaders made fun of Jesus, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he is God’s Chosen One, the Christ.”
36 The soldiers also made fun of him, coming to Jesus and offering him some vinegar.
37 They said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”
38 At the top of the cross these words were written: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals on a cross began to shout insults at Jesus: “Aren’t you the Christ? Then save yourself and us.”
40 But the other criminal stopped him and said, “You should fear God! You are getting the same punishment he is.
41 We are punished justly, getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
44 It was about noon, and the whole land became dark until three o’clock in the afternoon,
45 because the sun did not shine. The curtain in the Temple was torn in two.
46 Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, I give you my life.” After Jesus said this, he died.
47 When the army officer there saw what happened, he praised God, saying, “Surely this was a good man!”
48 When all the people who had gathered there to watch saw what happened, they returned home, beating their chests because they were so sad.
49 But those who were close friends of Jesus, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance and watched.
Luke 23:50-24:12
50 There was a good and religious man named Joseph who was a member of the council.
51 But he had not agreed to the other leaders’ plans and actions against Jesus. He was from the town of Arimathea and was waiting for the kingdom of God to come.
52 Joseph went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.
53 He took the body down from the cross, wrapped it in cloth, and put it in a tomb that was cut out of a wall of rock. This tomb had never been used before.
54 This was late on Preparation Day, and when the sun went down, the Sabbath day would begin.
55 The women who had come from Galilee with Jesus followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how Jesus’ body was laid.
56 Then the women left to prepare spices and perfumes.
On the Sabbath day they rested, as the law of Moses commanded.
1 Very early on the first day of the week, at dawn, the women came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the entrance of the tomb,
3 but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were wondering about this, two men in shining clothes suddenly stood beside them.
5 The women were very afraid and bowed their heads to the ground. The men said to them, “Why are you looking for a living person in this place for the dead?
6 He is not here; he has risen from the dead. Do you remember what he told you in Galilee?
7 He said the Son of Man must be handed over to sinful people, be crucified, and rise from the dead on the third day.”
8 Then the women remembered what Jesus had said.
9 The women left the tomb and told all these things to the eleven apostles and the other followers.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women who told the apostles everything that had happened at the tomb.
11 But they did not believe the women, because it sounded like nonsense.
12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Bending down and looking in, he saw only the cloth that Jesus’ body had been wrapped in. Peter went away to his home, wondering about what had happened.
John 1:1-18
1 In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him.
4 In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people.
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.
6 There was a man named John who was sent by God.
7 He came to tell people the truth about the Light so that through him all people could hear about the Light and believe. 8 John was not the Light, but he came to tell people the truth about the Light.
9 The true Light that gives light to all was coming into the world!
10 The Word was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world did not know him.
11 He came to the world that was his own, but his own people did not accept him.
12 But to all who did accept him and believe in him he gave the right to become children of God.
13 They did not become his children in any human way—by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God.
14 The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory—the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father—and he was full of grace and truth.
15 John tells the truth about him and cries out, saying, “This is the One I told you about: ‘The One who comes after me is greater than I am, because he was living before me.’ ”
16 Because he was full of grace and truth, from him we all received one gift after another.
17 The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God. But God the only Son is very close to the Father, and he has shown us what God is like.