³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah,^(A) so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,^(B) up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.^{(C) 40} Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.^{(D) 41} Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.^(E)

⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.^{(F) 43} But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming,^(G) he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready,^(H) because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,^(I) whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.^{(J) 47} Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.^{(K) 48} But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.^{(L) 50} The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(M)

Wickedness in the World

6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth^(A) and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God^(B) saw that the daughters^(C) of humans were beautiful,^(D) and they married^(E) any of them they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit^(F) will not contend with^[a] humans forever,^(G) for they are mortal^[b];^(H) their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

⁴ The Nephilim^(I) were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans^(J) and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.^(K)

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,^(L) and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.^{(M) 6} The Lord regretted^(N) that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth^(O) the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.^(P)” ⁸ But Noah^(Q) found favor in the eyes of the Lord.^(R)

Noah and the Flood

⁹ This is the account^(S) of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless^(T) among the people of his time,^(U) and he walked faithfully with God.^{(V) 10} Noah had three sons: Shem,^(W) Ham and Japheth.^(X)

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt^(Y) in God’s sight and was full of violence.^{(Z) 12} God saw how corrupt^(AA) the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.^{(AB) 13} So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy^(AC) both them and the earth.^{(AD) 14} So make yourself an ark of cypress^[c] wood;^(AE) make rooms in it and coat it with pitch^(AF) inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.^{[d] 16} Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit^[e] high all around.^[f] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters^(AG) on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.^{(AH) 18} But I will establish my covenant with you,^(AI) and you will enter the ark^(AJ)—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.^{(AK) 20} Two^(AL) of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind^(AM) of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.^{(AN) 21} You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.^(AO)

7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family,^(AP) because I have found you righteous^(AQ) in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean^(AR) animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive^(AS) throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain^(AT) on the earth^(AU) for forty days^(AV) and forty nights,^(AW) and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.^(AX)”

⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.^(AY)

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old^(AZ) when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark^(BA) to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean^(BB) animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.^{(BC) 10} And after the seven days^(BD) the floodwaters came on the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,^(BE) on the seventeenth day of the second month^(BF)—on that day all the springs of the great deep^(BG) burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens^(BH) were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.^(BI)

¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons,^(BJ) Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.^{(BK) 14} They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind,^(BL) everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.^{(BM) 16} The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.^(BN) Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ For forty days^(BO) the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.^{(BP) 20} The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.^{[g][h] (BQ) 21} Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.^{(BR) 22} Everything on dry land that had the breath of life^(BS) in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.^(BT) Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.^(BU)

²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.^(BV)

⁴⁷ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.^(A)

⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.

⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(A)

⁵² He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

⁵² Then the Jews^(A) began to argue sharply among themselves,^(B) “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³ Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh^(C) of the Son of Man^(D) and drink his blood,^(E) you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.^{(F) 55} For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.^{(G) 57} Just as the living Father sent me^(H) and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”^(I)

Jesus Reinstates Peter

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”^(A)

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”^(B)

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”^(C)

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?”^(D) He said, “Lord, you know all things;^(E) you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.^(F)

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,^(A) whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?