Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 Bless our God, you 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)put us to the test, God;
You have (E)refined us as silver is refined.
11 You (F)brought us into the net;
You laid an oppressive burden upon [d]us.
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 animals,
With the smoke of (N)rams;
I shall make an offering of [e]bulls with male goats. Selah
16 (O)Come and hear, all who [f]fear God,
And I will (P)tell of what He has done for my soul.
17 I cried to Him with my mouth,
And [g]He was (Q)exalted with my tongue.
18 If I [h](R)regard wickedness in my heart,
The (S)Lord will not hear;
19 But (T)God has heard;
He has given attention to the sound of my prayer.
20 (U)Blessed be God,
Who (V)has not turned away my prayer
Nor His favor 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 generation. 2 You shall take [a]with you [b]seven pairs of every (B)clean animal, a male and his female; and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and his female; 3 also of the birds of the sky, [c]seven pairs, male and female, to keep their [d]offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after (C)seven more days, I will send rain on the earth for (D)forty days and forty nights; and I will wipe out from the face of the land (E)every living thing that I have made.” 5 So (F)Noah acted in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him.
6 Now Noah was (G)six hundred years old when the flood of water [e]came upon the earth. 7 Then (H)Noah and his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 (I)Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that crawls on the ground, 9 they all went into the ark to Noah [f]by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 Now it came about after (J)the seven days, that the waters of the flood [g]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 that day all (L)the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the [h]floodgates of the sky were opened. 12 (M)The rain [i]fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
13 On this very same day (N)Noah, Shem, 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 animal according to its kind, and all the livestock according to [j]their kind, and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, [k]all sorts of birds. 15 So they went into the ark to Noah, (O)by twos of all flesh in which there 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 the door behind him.
17 Then the flood [l]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 [m]floated on the [n]surface of the water. 19 And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains [o]everywhere under the heavens were covered. 20 The water prevailed [p]fifteen cubits higher, (Q)and the mountains were covered. 21 So (R)all [q]creatures that moved on the earth perished: birds, livestock, animals, 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 So He wiped out [r]every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from mankind to animals, to crawling things, and the birds of the sky, and they were wiped 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 for 150 days.
13 [a]When a moderate south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began (A)sailing along (B)Crete, closer to shore.
Shipwreck
14 But before very long a violent wind, called [b]Euraquilo, (C)rushed down from [c]the land; 15 and when the ship was caught in it and could not head up into the wind, we gave up and let ourselves be driven by the wind. 16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were able to get the ship’s [d]boat under control only with difficulty. 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 let themselves be driven along in this way. 18 The next day as we were being violently tossed by the storm, [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 slowly abandoned.
21 [h]When many had lost their appetites, Paul then stood among them and said, “[i](F)Men, you should have followed my advice and not have set sail from (G)Crete, and thereby spared yourselves this (H)damage and loss. 22 And 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, (K)whom I also serve, (L)came to me, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; (M)you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has graciously granted you (N)all those who are sailing with you.’ 25 Therefore, (O)keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that [j]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 suspect that [k]they were approaching some land. 28 And 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 [l]rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and [m]prayed 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 that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on 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 kept 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 in nothing. 34 Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your survival, 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 them all, and he broke it and began to eat. 36 All (W)of them [n]were encouraged and they themselves also took food. 37 We were 276 [o](X)people on the ship in all. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began lightening the ship by (Y)throwing the wheat out into the sea.
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