Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

(Maftir) ⁵ Adonai saw that the people on earth were very wicked, that all the imaginings of their hearts were always of evil only. ⁶ Adonai regretted that he had made humankind on the earth; it grieved his heart. ⁷ Adonai said, “I will wipe out humankind, whom I have created, from the whole earth; and not only human beings, but animals, creeping things and birds in the air; for I regret that I ever made them.” ⁸ But Noach found grace in the sight of Adonai.

Haftarah B’resheet: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 42:5–43:10 (A); 42:5–21 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah B’resheet: Mattityahu (Matthew) 1:1–17; 19:3–9; Mark 10:1–12; Luke 3:23–38; Yochanan (John) 1:1–18; 1 Corinthians 6:15–20; 15:35–58; Romans 5:12–21; Ephesians 5:21–32; Colossians 1:14–17; 1 Timothy 2:11–15; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 1:1–3; 3:7–4:11; 11:1–7; 2 Kefa (2 Peter) 3:3–14; Revelation 21:1–5; 22:1–5

Parashah 2: Noach (Noah) 6:9–11:32

⁹ Here is the history of Noach. In his generation, Noach was a man righteous and wholehearted; Noach walked with God. ¹⁰ Noach fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Yefet. ¹¹ The earth was corrupt before God, the earth was filled with violence. ¹² God saw the earth, and, yes, it was corrupt; for all living beings had corrupted their ways on the earth.

¹³ God said to Noach, “The end of all living beings has come before me, for because of them the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them along with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gofer-wood; you are to make the ark with rooms and cover it with pitch both outside and inside. ¹⁵ Here is how you are to build it: the length of the ark is to be 450 feet, its width seventy-five feet and its height forty-five feet. ¹⁶ You are to make an opening for daylight in the ark eighteen inches below its roof. Put a door in its side; and build it with lower, second and third decks.

¹⁷ “Then I myself will bring the flood of water over the earth to destroy from under heaven every living thing that breathes; everything on earth will be destroyed. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you; you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

¹⁹ “From everything living, from each kind of living being, you are to bring two into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they are to be male and female. ²⁰ Of each kind of bird, each kind of livestock, and each kind of animal creeping on the ground, two are to come to you, so that they can be kept alive. ²¹ Also take from all the kinds of food that are eaten, and collect it for yourself; it is to be food for you and for them.” ²² This is what Noach did; he did all that God ordered him to do.

27 Once it had been decided that we should set sail for Italy, they handed Sha’ul and some other prisoners over to an officer of the Emperor’s Regiment named Julius. ² We embarked in a ship from Adramyttium which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. ³ The next day, we landed at Tzidon; and Julius considerately allowed Sha’ul to go visit his friends and receive what he needed. ⁴ Putting to sea from there, we sailed close to the sheltered side of Cyprus because the winds were against us, ⁵ then across the open sea along the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia; and so we reached Myra in Lycia.

⁶ There the Roman officer found an Alexandrian vessel sailing to Italy and put us aboard. ⁷ For a number of days we made little headway, and we arrived off Cnidus only with difficulty. The wind would not let us continue any farther along the direct route; so we ran down along the sheltered side of Crete from Cape Salmone; ⁸ and, continuing to struggle on, hugging the coast, we reached a place called Pleasant Harbor, near the town of Lasea.

⁹ Since much time had been lost, and continuing the voyage was risky, because it was already past Yom-Kippur, Sha’ul advised them, ¹⁰ “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be a catastrophe, not only with huge losses to the cargo and the ship but with loss of our lives as well.” ¹¹ However, the officer paid more attention to the pilot and the ship’s owner than to what Sha’ul said. ¹² Moreover, since the harbor was not well suited to sitting out the winter, the majority reached the decision to sail on from there in the hope of reaching Phoenix, another harbor in Crete, and wintering there, where it is protected from the southwest and northwest winds.