Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Noah and the Flood

7 Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be ^(A)righteous before Me in this generation. ² You shall take ^[a]with you of every ^(B)clean animal ^[b]by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean, two, a male and his female; ³ also of the birds of the ^[c]sky, ^[d]by sevens, male and female, to keep their seed alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For after ^(C)seven more days, I will send rain on the earth ^(D)forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land ^(E)every living thing that I have made.” ^5 (F)And Noah did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him.

⁶ Now Noah was ^(G)six hundred years old when the flood of water ^[e]came upon the earth. ⁷ Then ^(H)Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. ^8 (I)Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, ^9 [f]by twos they came to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ Now it happened after ^(J)the seven days, that the water of the flood ^[g]came upon the earth. ¹¹ In the ^(K)six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all ^(L)the fountains of the great deep split open, and the ^[h]floodgates of the sky were opened. ^12 (M)Then the rain ^[i]came upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On this very day ^(N)Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, ¹⁴ they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after ^[j]their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind—every ^[k]fowl, every winged creature. ¹⁵ So they came to Noah into the ark, ^(O)by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. ¹⁶ And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and Yahweh closed it behind him.

¹⁷ Then the flood ^[l]came upon the earth for ^(P)forty days, and the water multiplied and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. ¹⁸ And the water prevailed and multiplied greatly upon the earth, and the ark went on the ^[m]surface of the water. ¹⁹ And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered. ²⁰ The water prevailed ^[n]fifteen cubits higher, ^(Q)and the mountains were covered. ^21 (R)And all flesh that ^[o]moved on the earth breathed its last, that is birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, as well as all mankind. ²² All ^(S)in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life—of all that was on the dry land—died. ²³ Thus He blotted out ^[p]every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the ^[q]sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only ^(T)Noah remained, and those that were with him in the ark. ^24 (U)And the water prevailed upon the earth 150 days.

¹³ And when a moderate ^[a]south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began ^(A)sailing along ^[b]the shore of ^(B)Crete.

The Storm at Sea

¹⁴ But before very long there ^(C)rushed down from ^[c]the land a violent wind, called ^[d]Euraquilo; ¹⁵ and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be carried along. ¹⁶ And running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s ^[e]boat under control. ¹⁷ After they had hoisted it up, they used ^[f]supporting cables in undergirding the ship. Fearing that they might ^(D)run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the ^[g]sea anchor and in this way let themselves be carried along. ¹⁸ And the next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, ^[h]they began to ^(E)jettison the cargo; ¹⁹ and on the third day they cast the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ And since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.

²¹ And ^[i]when they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “^(F)Men, you ought to have ^[j]followed my advice to not set sail from ^(G)Crete and to ^[k]avoid this ^(H)damage and loss. ²² And now I advise you to ^(I)be cheerful, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night ^(J)an angel of the God to whom I belong and ^(K)whom I serve ^(L)stood before me, ²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; ^(M)you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you ^(N)all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore, ^(O)be cheerful, men, for I believe God that ^[l]it will turn out exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must ^(P)run aground on some ^(Q)island.”

²⁷ But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being carried about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that some land was approaching them. ²⁸ And when they took soundings, they found it to be ^[m]twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be ^[n]fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ And fearing that we might ^(R)run aground somewhere on the ^[o]rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and were praying for daybreak. ³⁰ But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down ^(S)the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot ^[p]be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ^(T)ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.

³³ Until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your ^[q]salvation, for ^(U)not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” ³⁵ And having said these things, he took bread and ^(V)gave thanks to God in the presence of all. And he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ And all ^(W)of them became cheerful and they themselves also took food. ³⁷ And all of us in the ship were 276 ^[r](X)persons. ³⁸ And when they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by ^(Y)throwing out the wheat into the sea.