Frist Wednesday of Advent - The Flood

It is a long reading today.  It is a good reminder about the covenant that God made with His people.

 

Genesis 6:11-22 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. ¹³ Then God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
    ¹⁴ "Make yourself an ark of gofer wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. ¹⁶ You are to make a roof, finishing [the sides of the ark] to within 18 inches [of the roof.] You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper [decks].
    ¹⁷ "Understand that I am bringing a deluge—floodwaters on the earth to destroy all flesh under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die. ¹⁸ But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives. ¹⁹ You are also to bring into the ark two of every living thing of all flesh, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of everything—from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from every animal that crawls on the ground according to its kind—will come to you so that you can keep them alive. ²¹ Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them." ²² And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.

Genesis 7:17-8:12 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

¹⁷ The deluge continued 40 days on the earth; the waters increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ Then the waters surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. ²⁰ The mountains were covered as the waters surged [above them] more than 20 feet. ²¹ All flesh perished—creatures that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and all creatures that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind. ²² Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils —everything on dry land died. ²³ He wiped out every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. ²⁴ And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.

Genesis 8

The Flood Recedes

 ¹ God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside. ² The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped. ³ The water steadily receded from the earth, and by the end of 150 days the waters had decreased significantly.⁴ The ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.     ⁵ The waters continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible. ⁶ After 40 days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made, ⁷ and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove to see whether the water on the earth's surface had gone down, ⁹ but the dove found no resting place for her foot. She returned to him in the ark because water covered the surface of the whole earth. He reached out and brought her into the ark to himself. ¹⁰ So Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove from the ark again. ¹¹ When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water on the earth's surface had gone down. ¹² After he had waited another seven days, he sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again.

Genesis 8:20-9:17 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man's inclination is evil from his youth.  And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.
    ²² As long as the earth endures,
    seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
    summer and winter, and day and night
    will not cease."

Genesis 9

God's Covenant with Noah

 ¹ God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. ² The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. ³ Every living creature will be food for you; as [I gave] the green plants, I have given you everything. ⁴ However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. ⁵ I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man's brother for a man's life.     ⁶ Whoever sheds man's blood,
    his blood will be shed by man,
    for God made man
    in His image.
    ⁷ But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it."
    ⁸ Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, ⁹ "Understand that I am confirming My covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. ¹¹ I confirm My covenant with you that never again will all flesh be wiped out by the waters of a deluge; there will never again be a deluge to destroy the earth."
    ¹² And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: ¹³ I have placed My bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh: water will never again become a deluge to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh on earth." ¹⁷ God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and all flesh on earth."