Genesis 8:20Plain English VersionThen Noah piled up stones to make a special table with a flat top, and he got one of each sort of animal and bird that are the right sorts to give to God, and he killed them, and he put them on that special table, and he burned them there. He did that to give them to God, to say thank you to God. See the chapter |
Then Isaac wanted to show respect to God, so he piled up stones to make a table with a flat top. It was a special place for him to burn animals to show right respect to God. Then Isaac prayed to God, and he called God by his special name Yahweh. After that, Isaac set up his camp, and he sent his workers to go and dig a water-hole.
Then God said to Jacob, “Leave this place, and go to that special place called Bethel. Remember, a long time ago, you ran away from your brother Esau, and you went to that place, and I came to you there. Now I want you to go and live in that place, and I want you to pile up stones there, to make a special table. Then I want you to burn animals on that special table, to show respect to me, because I am God.”
Then Jacob piled up stones to make a table with a flat top, so that he could burn animals to show respect to God. And Jacob gave that place a new name. He called it El Bethel. That name means God is in Bethel. A long time before this, when Jacob ran away from his brother Esau, God came and talked to Jacob in that place. That’s the reason why Jacob gave it that name.
You have to take every sort of animal with you into that big boat. You know the sorts of animals that are right for you to give to me? Well, get 7 males and 7 females from each of those sorts of animals. And get all the other animals too, the animals that are not right to give to me. Get one male and one female from each of those sorts of animals. They all have to go on to the big boat.
My Christian friends, God is so very good to us. So I really want you to use your bodies to live for him. A long time ago, God told his people to give him animals to show him respect. They did it like this. They used to kill the animals and burn them up. But now it is different. Now you have to use your bodies to live for him and do good things, it’s like you are giving your own bodies to God while you are still alive. If you do that, you will make God happy. That is the proper thing to do to show that you follow God.
Just like stones join together to make a house, you join up with Jesus to make a special house for God, so he will live with you. And Jesus will help you do good things and make God happy, just like the men that look after God’s ceremonies gave him good things to show him respect and make him happy.
But you are the people God picked out for himself. Together you work for him, like the men that looked after his ceremonies. You are his own family. God called you away from doing bad things, so you can do good things. It is like you used to live in the dark so that nobody could see you do bad things there, but now he called you away from that to live in his good light. So let’s tell everyone that God is really great and really good.