Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Entering the Ark

7 Then the Lord told Noah, “Come—you and all your household—into the ark, because I’ve seen that you alone are righteous^[a] in this generation. ² You are to take with you seven pairs^[b] of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate; ³ along with seven pairs^[c] of the flying birds, male and female, in order to keep their offspring alive on the surface of all the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I’ll send rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I’ll destroy every living creature that I’ve made.”

⁵ Noah did everything that the Lord commanded.

The Flood Begins

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when water began to flood the earth. ⁷ Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark with him before the flood waters arrived.^{[d] 8} From both clean and unclean animals, from birds, and from everything that crawls on the ground, ⁹ two by two, male and female, they entered the ark to join Noah, just as God had commanded.

¹⁰ Seven days later, the flooding started. ¹¹ On the seventeenth day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, all the springs of the great deep burst open, the floodgates of the heavens were opened, ¹² and it rained throughout the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. ¹³ On that very day, Noah entered the ark with his^[e] sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, his sons’ three wives with them, ¹⁴ along with every species of wild animal,^[f] livestock, crawling creature, bird, and every creature that has wings. ¹⁵ Two of each living creature^[g] entered the ark with Noah. ¹⁶ The males and females of each living creature^[h] entered the ark,^[i] just as God had commanded. Then the Lord sealed them inside.

¹⁷ The flood continued throughout the earth for 40 days, while the flood waters increased, lifting the ark so that it rose above the surface of the^[j] earth. ¹⁸ The flood waters continued to surge, increasing throughout the earth, while the ark floated on the surface of the flood water. ¹⁹ The flood water surged even higher throughout the earth, until all the highest mountains under the sky were covered. ²⁰ The flood waters rose 15 cubits^[k] above the mountains. ²¹ Every living thing^[l] on earth died—flying creatures, livestock, wildlife, all creatures that swarm over the earth, and all human beings. ²² Everything that breathed^[m] and everything that had lived on dry land died. ²³ All existing creatures that had lived on the surface of the ground were annihilated, from humans to livestock, from crawling creatures to birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah remained, along with those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴ The flood waters surged over the earth for 150 days.

¹³ When a gentle breeze began to blow from the south, they thought they could make it to Phoenix,^[a] so they hoisted anchor and began sailing along the shore of Crete.

¹⁴ But it was not long before a violent wind (called a northeaster) swept down from the island.^{[b] 15} The ship was caught so that it couldn’t face the wind, and we gave up and were swept along. ¹⁶ As we drifted to the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda,^[c] we barely managed to secure the ship’s lifeboat. ¹⁷ The ship’s crew^[d] pulled it up on deck and used ropes to brace the ship. Fearing that they would hit the large sandbank near Libya,^[e] they lowered the sail and drifted along. ¹⁸ The next day, because we were being tossed so violently by the storm, they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day they threw the ship’s equipment overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ For a number of days neither the sun nor the stars were to be seen, and the storm continued to rage until at last all hope of our being saved vanished.

²¹ After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood among his shipmates^[f] and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete. You would have avoided this hardship and damage. ²² But now I urge you to have courage, because there will be no loss of life among you, but only loss^[g] of the ship. ²³ For just last night an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I serve, stood by me ²⁴ and said, ‘Stop being afraid, Paul! You must stand before the emperor. Indeed, God has given to you the lives of^[h] everyone who is sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So take courage, men, because I trust God that it will turn out just as he told me. ²⁶ However, we will have to run aground on some island.”

The Shipwreck

²⁷ It was the fourteenth night, and we were drifting through the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors suspected that land was near. ²⁸ After taking soundings, they found the depth to be twenty fathoms. A little later, they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and began praying for daylight to come. ³⁰ Meanwhile, the sailors had begun trying to escape from the ship. They lowered the lifeboat into the sea and pretended that they were going to lay out the anchors from the bow. ³¹ Paul told the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain onboard, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and set it adrift.

³³ Right up to daybreak Paul kept urging all of them to eat something. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food, not eating anything. ³⁴ So I urge you to eat something, for it will help you survive, since none of you will lose so much as^[i] a hair from his head.” ³⁵ After he said this, he took some bread, thanked God in front of everyone, broke it, and began to eat. ³⁶ Everyone was encouraged and had something to eat. ³⁷ There were 276^[j] of us on the ship. ³⁸ After they had eaten all they wanted, they began to lighten the ship by dumping its cargo of^[k] wheat into the sea.