Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 Bless our God, O peoples,
And [a](A)sound His praise abroad,
9 Who [b](B)keeps us in life
And (C)does not allow our feet to [c]slip.
10 For You have (D)tried us, O God;
You have (E)refined us as silver is refined.
11 You (F)brought us into the net;
You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins.
12 You made men (G)ride over our heads;
We went through (H)fire and through water,
Yet You (I)brought us out into a place of abundance.
13 I shall (J)come into Your house with burnt offerings;
I shall (K)pay You my vows,
14 Which my lips uttered
And my mouth spoke when I was (L)in distress.
15 I shall (M)offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts,
With the smoke of (N)rams;
I shall make an offering of [d]bulls with male goats. Selah.
16 (O)Come and hear, all who [e]fear God,
And I will (P)tell of what He has done for my soul.
17 I cried to Him with my mouth,
And [f]He was (Q)extolled with my tongue.
18 If I [g](R)regard wickedness in my heart,
The (S)Lord [h]will not [i]hear;
19 But certainly (T)God has heard;
He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
20 (U)Blessed be God,
Who (V)has not turned away my prayer
Nor His lovingkindness from me.
The Flood
7 Then the Lord 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 [a]time. 2 You shall take [b]with you of every (B)clean animal [c]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 [d]sky, [e]by sevens, male and female, to keep [f]offspring 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)Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.
6 Now Noah was (G)six hundred years old when the flood of water [g]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 there went into the ark to Noah [h]by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 It came about after (J)the seven days, that the water of the flood [i]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 the same day all (L)the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the [j]floodgates of the sky were opened. 12 (M)The rain [k]fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same 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 [l]their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, [m]all sorts of birds. 15 So they went into the ark to Noah, (O)by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. 16 Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.
17 Then the flood [n]came upon the earth for (P)forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. 18 The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark [o]floated on the [p]surface of the water. 19 The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains [q]everywhere under the heavens were covered. 20 The water prevailed fifteen [r]cubits higher, (Q)and the mountains were covered. 21 (R)All flesh that [s]moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; 22 of all that was on the dry land, all (S)in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23 Thus He blotted out [t]every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the [u]sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only (T)Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. 24 (U)The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
13 [a]When a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began (A)sailing along (B)Crete, close inshore.
Shipwreck
14 But before very long there (C)rushed down from [b]the land a violent wind, called [c]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 driven along. 16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s [d]boat under control. 17 After they had hoisted it up, they used [e]supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might (D)run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the [f]sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along. 18 The next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, [g]they began to (E)jettison the cargo; 19 and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 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 [h]When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “(F)Men, you ought to have [i]followed my advice and not to have set sail from (G)Crete and [j]incurred this (H)damage and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to (I)keep up your courage, 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)keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that [k]it will turn out exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must (P)run aground on a certain (Q)island.”
27 But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to surmise that [l]they were approaching some land. 28 They took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we might (R)run aground somewhere on the [m]rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and [n]wished 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 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 preservation, for (U)not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” 35 Having said this, he took bread and (V)gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it and began to eat. 36 All (W)of them [o]were encouraged and they themselves also took food. 37 All of us in the ship were two hundred and seventy-six [p](X)persons. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by (Y)throwing out the wheat into the sea.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.