Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

For the director of music. A psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. He sang the words of this song to the Lord. He sang them when the Lord saved him. He saved him from the power of all his enemies and of Saul. David said,

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.

8 But God showed concern for Noah. He also showed concern for all the wild animals and livestock that were with Noah in the ark. So God sent a wind to sweep over the earth. And the waters began to go down. ² The springs at the bottom of the oceans had been closed. The windows of the sky had also been closed. And the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³ The water on the earth continued to go down. At the end of the 150 days the water had gone down. ⁴ On the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to go down until the tenth month. On the first day of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

⁴ God did not spare angels when they sinned. Instead, he sent them to hell. He chained them up in dark prisons. He will keep them there until he judges them. ⁵ God did not spare the world’s ungodly people long ago. He brought the flood on them. But Noah preached about the right way to live. God kept him safe. He also saved seven others. ⁶ God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them to ashes. He made them an example of what is going to happen to ungodly people. ⁷ God saved Lot, a man who did what was right. Lot was shocked by the evil conduct of people who didn’t obey God’s laws. ⁸ That good man lived among them day after day. He saw and heard the evil things they were doing. They were breaking God’s laws. And the godly spirit of Lot was deeply troubled. ⁹ Since all this is true, then the Lord knows how to save godly people. He knows how to keep them safe in times of testing. The Lord also knows how to keep ungodly people under guard. He will do so until the day they will be judged and punished. ¹⁰ Most of all, this is true of people who follow desires that come from sin’s power. These people hate to be under authority.

They are bold and proud. So they aren’t even afraid to speak evil things against heavenly beings.