Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Deliverance Through the Flood

7 Then Adonai said to Noah, “Come—you and all your household—into the ark. For you only do I perceive as righteous before Me in this generation. ² Of every clean animal you shall take with you seven of each kind, male and female; and of the animals which themselves are not clean two, male and female; ³ also of the flying creatures of the sky seven of every kind, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of the whole land. ⁴ For in seven more days, I am going to make it rain upon the land forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe out all existence that I made from the face of the ground. ⁵ So Noah did all just as Adonai commanded him.

⁶ Now Noah was 600 years old when the flood came—water upon the land. ⁷ So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, entered the ark because of the floodwaters. ⁸ Of the clean animals and unclean animals, the flying creatures and everything that crawls on the ground, ⁹ two by two they came to Noah, into the ark, male and female, just as God commanded Noah.

¹⁰ After the seven days, the floodwaters were upon the land. ¹¹ In the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day, all the water sources of the great deep burst open, and the windows of the sky were opened. ¹² Then there was rain upon the land 40 days and 40 nights.

¹³ On that same day Noah, along with Noah’s sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s wife and the three wives of Noah’s sons with them, entered the ark, ¹⁴ they and every animal according to its kind, and all the livestock according to its kind, and every crawling creature that crawls on the land according to its kind, and every flying creature according to its kind, every bird, every winged creature. ¹⁵ So to Noah and into the ark they went by twos—all flesh in which was the spirit of life. ¹⁶ Those that came, male and female of all flesh, came just as God commanded him. Then Adonai shut him in.

¹⁷ The flood was forty days upon the land, and the waters increased and lifted the ark, so that it rose above the land. ¹⁸ The waters overpowered and became very mighty over the land, and the ark drifted on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ The waters completely overpowered the land so that all the high mountains beneath the entire sky were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose 15 cubits higher, as the mountains were covered. ²¹ All flesh perished—those that crawl on the land, the flying creatures, livestock, wild animals, all creatures that swarm upon the land, and all humankind. ²² Everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils—everything on dry land—died. ²³ So He wiped out all existence that was upon the surface of the ground, everything from people to livestock, to crawling creatures, and to flying creatures of the sky. They were wiped out off the land. Only Noah and those with him in the ark survived. ²⁴ The waters overpowered the land for 150 days.

Storm and Shipwreck

¹³ When the south wind blew gently, supposing they had obtained their purpose, they raised the anchor and started coasting along the shore by Crete. ¹⁴ But before long, a hurricane-force wind called “the Northeaster” swept down from the island. ¹⁵ When the ship was caught and could not face into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶ As we ran under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were barely able to get control of the dinghy. ¹⁷ When the crew had hoisted it up, they made use of ropes to undergird the ship. Then fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis,^[a] they let down the anchor and so were driven along. ¹⁸ But as we were violently battered by the storm, the next day they began throwing cargo overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they threw out the ship’s gear with their own hands. ²⁰ With neither sun nor stars appearing for many days, and no small storm pressing on us, all hope of our survival was vanishing.

²¹ As they had long been without food, Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete, to avoid this disaster and loss. ²² Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you—but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night, there came to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. ²⁴ He said, ‘Do not fear, Paul. You must stand before Caesar; and indeed, God has granted you all who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So take heart, men, for I trust God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must run aground on some island.”

²⁷ Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to sense that they were nearing some land. ²⁸ So they took soundings and found the water was twenty fathoms deep.^[b] A bit farther along, they took another sounding and found it was fifteen fathoms deep. ²⁹ Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern. They were longing for day to come.

³⁰ Now the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had lowered the dinghy into the sea, pretending they were going to put out anchors from the bow. ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you cannot be saved!”

³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the dinghy and let it drift away. ³³ As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have kept waiting and going without food, having taken nothing. ³⁴ Therefore, I urge you to take some food—for this is for your survival, since not one of you will lose a hair from his head.”

³⁵ And when he had said these things, he took bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat. ³⁶ Then all were encouraged and took some food themselves. ³⁷ (In all we were 276 persons on the ship.)

³⁸ When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship, throwing the wheat into the sea.