Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song to sing as we climb.

David wrote this song.

¹¹ God saw that everything on the earth had become spoiled. Everywhere, people were attacking each other. ¹² God saw how much the earth had become spoiled. Everyone was doing bad things. ¹³ God said to Noah, ‘I will destroy everyone. That is what I have decided to do. Everywhere on the earth, people are attacking each other. Now I will destroy the people and also the earth. ¹⁴ So make a ship for yourself. Use wood from cypress trees to make it.^[a] The ship must have rooms in it. Cover the inside and the outside of the ship with tar.^[b]

¹⁵ This is how you will build the ship: It must be 150 metres long, 25 metres wide and 15 metres high.

¹⁶ Make a roof for the ship. Leave a space 45 centimetres high all round under the roof. Put a door in the side of the ship. Inside the ship, make three floors above each other.

¹⁷ I will cover the earth with deep water. I will destroy all living things, wherever they live. Everything that breathes will die. ¹⁸ But I will make a covenant with you, Noah. You will go into the ship. You will take your wife with you, and also your three sons and their wives. ¹⁹ You must also take two of every different kind of animal into the ship. One will be male and the other will be female. Then they will stay alive with you. ²⁰ Bring two of every different kind of bird, two of every different animal and two of every different living thing that moves along the ground. All these will come to you. You will take care of them so that they will stay alive. ²¹ You must also take every different kind of food. That will be food for you and food for the animals.’

²² Noah obeyed God. He did everything that God had told him to do.

Jesus talks about the temple

24 Jesus left the temple. While he was leaving, his disciples came to him. They began to talk to him about the buildings of the temple. ² So Jesus said to them, ‘Yes, you can see all these beautiful buildings now. But I tell you this: Enemies will completely destroy them.^[a] Not even one stone will remain on top of another stone.’

³ After that, Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. While he was alone, his disciples came to him. They said to him, ‘Please tell us when all these things will happen. Also tell us what will show us that you will soon return? What will show us that the world will soon end?’

⁴ Jesus said, ‘You must be careful! Some people will tell you things that are not true. Do not believe them. ⁵ Many people will say that they have come on my behalf. They will say, “I am the Messiah.” Many people will believe their false words. ⁶ You will hear about wars. You will hear reports about wars in other places. But you must not be afraid. Those things must happen first, but it is not yet the end of everything. ⁷ People in one country will attack the people in another country. Kings and their armies will fight against other kings and their armies. In some places, people will be hungry, with no food. The ground will shake in many different places. ⁸ All those things will be like the first pains that a mother has before her baby is born.

⁹ Then people will take hold of you and they will give you pain. They will even kill some of you. People in every country will hate you because you are my disciples. ¹⁰ At that time, many people who believe in me will stop believing. They will put some of my disciples in the power of their rulers. They will hate each other. ¹¹ Also at that time, many people will say that they are prophets from God. Their message is false, but many people will believe them. ¹² More and more people everywhere will be doing very bad things. Because of this, many people will no longer love each other in the way that they did before. ¹³ But God will save the person who remains strong until the end. ¹⁴ People will tell the good news about God's kingdom to people all over the world. People in every country will hear the true message from God. Then God will cause the world to come to an end.

¹⁵ Long ago, God's prophet Daniel wrote in the Bible about something that would happen. He said that one day people would put a disgusting thing that causes trouble in the temple. You will see it in the holy place. (When you read this, you must understand what it means.) ¹⁶ At that time, people in Judea must run away to the hills to hide.

¹⁷ A person who is on the roof of his house must not go down into his house.^[b] He must not stop to get anything from his home to take with him. ¹⁸ People who are outside in their fields must not go back to their homes. They must not even go to fetch their coats. ¹⁹ That will be a bad time for women who are soon to have a baby! It will also be a bad time for those women who have little babies! ²⁰ You must pray to God about this time when you have to run away quickly. Pray that this time of trouble will not happen in winter. Pray that it will not happen on your day of rest. ²¹ Great troubles will happen to people at that time. Nothing as bad has ever happened before, since the beginning of the world. Nothing as bad will ever happen again. ²² God will cause those days of great trouble to be not so many. If he did not do that, there would be nobody still alive. But God will cause those days to come to an end. He will do that to help the people that he has chosen.