Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark with your whole family. I know that you are a godly man among the people of today. ² Take seven pairs of every kind of ‘clean’ animal with you. Take a male and a female of each kind. Take one pair of every kind of animal that is not ‘clean.’ Take a male and a female of each kind. ³ Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. Take a male and a female of each kind. Then every kind will be kept alive. They can spread out again over the whole earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

⁵ Noah did everything the Lord commanded him to do.

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth. ⁷ He and his sons entered the ark. His wife and his sons’ wives went with them. They entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Male and female pairs of “clean” animals and pairs of animals that were not “clean” came to Noah. So did male and female pairs of birds and of all the creatures that move along the ground. ⁹ All of them came to Noah and entered the ark. Everything happened just as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ After seven days the flood came on the earth.

¹¹ Noah was 600 years old. It was the 17th day of the second month of the year. On that day all of the springs at the bottom of the oceans burst open. God opened the windows of the sky. ¹² Rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

¹³ On that same day Noah entered the ark together with his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. Noah’s wife and the wives of his three sons also entered it. ¹⁴ They had every kind of wild animal with them. They had every kind of livestock, creature that moves along the ground, and bird that flies. ¹⁵ Pairs of all living creatures that breathe came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing. Everything happened just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ For 40 days the flood kept coming on the earth. As the waters rose higher, they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose higher and higher on the earth. And the ark floated on the water. ¹⁹ The waters rose on the earth until all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. ²⁰ The waters continued to rise until they covered the mountains by more than 20 feet. ²¹ Every living thing that moved on land died. The birds, the livestock and the wild animals died. All of the creatures that fill the earth also died. And so did every human being. ²² Every breathing thing on dry land died. ²³ Every living thing on earth was wiped out. People and animals were destroyed. The creatures that move along the ground and the birds in the sky were wiped out. Everything on earth was destroyed. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.

²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for 150 days.

The Storm

¹³ A gentle south wind began to blow. The ship’s crew thought they saw their chance to leave safely. So they pulled up the anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. ¹⁴ Before very long, a wind blew down from the island. It had the force of a hurricane. It was called the Northeaster. ¹⁵ The ship was caught by the storm. We could not keep it sailing into the wind. So we gave up and were driven along by the wind. ¹⁶ We passed the calmer side of a small island called Cauda. We almost lost the lifeboat that was tied to the side of the ship. ¹⁷ So the men lifted the lifeboat on board. Then they tied ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. They were afraid it would get stuck on the sandbars of Syrtis. So they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. ¹⁸ We took a very bad beating from the storm. The next day the crew began to throw the ship’s contents overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they even threw the ship’s tools and supplies overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ The sun and stars didn’t appear for many days. The storm was terrible. So we gave up all hope of being saved.

²¹ The men had not eaten for a long time. Paul stood up in front of them. “Men,” he said, “you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete. Then you would have avoided this harm and loss. ²² Now I beg you to be brave. Not one of you will die. Only the ship will be destroyed. ²³ I belong to God and serve him. Last night his angel stood beside me. ²⁴ The angel said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must go on trial in front of Caesar. God has shown his grace by sparing the lives of all those sailing with you.’ ²⁵ Men, continue to be brave. I have faith in God. It will happen just as he told me. ²⁶ But we must run the ship onto the beach of some island.”

The Ship Is Destroyed

²⁷ On the 14th night the wind was still pushing us across the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors had a feeling that they were approaching land. ²⁸ They measured how deep the water was. They found that it was 120 feet deep. A short time later they measured the water again. This time it was 90 feet deep. ²⁹ They were afraid we would crash against the rocks. So they dropped four anchors from the back of the ship. They prayed that daylight would come. ³⁰ The sailors wanted to escape from the ship. So they let the lifeboat down into the sea. They pretended they were going to lower some anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul spoke to the commander and the soldiers. “These men must stay with the ship,” he said. “If they don’t, you can’t be saved.” ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat. They let it drift away.

³³ Just before dawn Paul tried to get them all to eat. “For the last 14 days,” he said, “you have wondered what would happen. You have gone without food. You haven’t eaten anything. ³⁴ Now I am asking you to eat some food. You need it to live. Not one of you will lose a single hair from your head.” ³⁵ After Paul said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God. He did this where they all could see him. Then he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ All of them were filled with hope. So they ate some food. ³⁷ There were 276 of us on board. ³⁸ They ate as much as they wanted. They needed to make the ship lighter. So they threw the rest of the grain into the sea.