Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

III

Chapter 7

¹ Then the Lord said to Noah: Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this generation have I found to be righteous before me.^{(A) 2} Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate; ³ likewise, of every bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep their progeny alive over all the earth. ⁴ For seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the face of the earth every being that I have made.^{(B) 5} Noah complied, just as the Lord had commanded.

The Great Flood. ⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came upon the earth. ⁷ Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.^{(C) 8} Of the clean animals and the unclean, of the birds, and of everything that crawls on the ground, ⁹ two by two, male and female came to Noah into the ark, just as God had commanded him.^{(D) 10} When the seven days were over, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month: on that day

¹² For forty days and forty nights heavy rain poured down on the earth.

¹³ On the very same day, Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of Noah’s sons had entered the ark, ¹⁴ together with every kind of wild animal, every kind of tame animal, every kind of crawling thing that crawls on the earth, and every kind of bird. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures in which there was the breath of life came to Noah into the ark. ¹⁶ Those that entered were male and female; of all creatures they came, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ The flood continued upon the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark, so that it rose above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth, but the ark floated on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹ Higher and higher on the earth the waters swelled, until all the highest mountains under the heavens were submerged. ²⁰ The waters swelled fifteen cubits higher than the submerged mountains. ²¹ All creatures that moved on earth perished: birds, tame animals, wild animals, and all that teemed on the earth, as well as all humankind.^{(E) 22} Everything on dry land with the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ The Lord wiped out every being on earth: human beings and animals, the crawling things and the birds of the air; all were wiped out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.

²⁴ And when the waters had swelled on the earth for one hundred and fifty days,

¹³ A south wind blew gently, and thinking they had attained their objective, they weighed anchor and sailed along close to the coast of Crete. ¹⁴ Before long an offshore wind of hurricane force called a “Northeaster” struck. ¹⁵ Since the ship was caught up in it and could not head into the wind we gave way and let ourselves be driven. ¹⁶ We passed along the sheltered side of an island named Cauda and managed only with difficulty to get the dinghy under control. ¹⁷ They hoisted it aboard, then used cables to undergird the ship. Because of their fear that they would run aground on the shoal of Syrtis, they lowered the drift anchor and were carried along in this way. ¹⁸ We were being pounded by the storm so violently that the next day they jettisoned some cargo, ¹⁹ and on the third day with their own hands they threw even the ship’s tackle overboard. ²⁰ Neither the sun nor the stars were visible for many days, and no small storm raged. Finally, all hope of our surviving was taken away.

²¹ When many would no longer eat, Paul stood among them and said, “Men, you should have taken my advice and not have set sail from Crete and you would have avoided this disastrous loss. ²² I urge you now to keep up your courage; not one of you will be lost, only the ship. ²³ For last night an angel of the God to whom [I] belong and whom I serve stood by me ²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You are destined to stand before Caesar; and behold, for your sake, God has granted safety to all who are sailing with you.’^{(A) 25} Therefore, keep up your courage, men; I trust in God that it will turn out as I have been told. ²⁶ We are destined to run aground on some island.”

²⁷ On the fourteenth night, as we were still being driven about on the Adriatic Sea, toward midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were nearing land. ²⁸ They took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on, they again took soundings and found fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ Fearing that we would run aground on a rocky coast, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. ³⁰ The sailors then tried to abandon ship; they lowered the dinghy to the sea on the pretext of going to lay out anchors from the bow. ³¹ But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes of the dinghy and set it adrift.

³³ Until the day began to dawn, Paul kept urging all to take some food. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting, going hungry and eating nothing. ³⁴ I urge you, therefore, to take some food; it will help you survive. Not a hair of the head of anyone of you will be lost.” ³⁵ When he said this, he took bread,^[a] gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat.^{(B) 36} They were all encouraged, and took some food themselves. ³⁷ In all, there were two hundred seventy-six of us on the ship. ³⁸ After they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.