God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all people. I will destroy them completely, because the world is full of their violent deeds.

Seven days from now I am going to send rain that will fall for forty days and nights, in order to destroy all the living beings that I have made."

Every living being on the earth died---every bird, every animal, and every person.

The LORD destroyed all living beings on the earth---human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat.

"I am now making my covenant with you and with your descendants,

I will make the Egyptians so stubborn that they will go in after them, and I will gain honor by my victory over the king, his army, his chariots, and his drivers.

then in my anger I will turn on you and again make your punishment seven times worse than before.

" 'I, and I alone, am God; no other god is real. I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal, and no one can oppose what I do.

The LORD rules over the deep waters; he rules as king forever.

The LORD says, "I am the one who strengthens you. Why should you fear mortals, who are no more enduring than grass?

And so I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you that I am your enemy. I will pass judgment on you where all the nations can see it.

Tell the mountains of Israel to hear the Sovereign LORD's word---to hear what I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling the mountains, the hills, the gorges, and the valleys: I will send a sword to destroy the places where people worship idols.

"I, the Sovereign LORD, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them

"So now, I, the Sovereign LORD, tell you that I will judge between you strong sheep and the weak sheep.

I will attack the people of Israel and Judah like a lion. I myself will tear them to pieces and then leave them. When I drag them off, no one will be able to save them.

God did not spare the ancient world, but brought the flood on the world of godless people; the only ones he saved were Noah, who preached righteousness, and seven other people.

Seven days from now I am going to send rain that will fall for forty days and nights, in order to destroy all the living beings that I have made."

The flood continued for forty days, and the water became deep enough for the boat to float.

Every living being on the earth died---every bird, every animal, and every person.

The LORD destroyed all living beings on the earth---human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat.

Even before their time had come, they were washed away by a flood.

The LORD rules over the deep waters; he rules as king forever.

The ocean depths raise their voice, O LORD; they raise their voice and roar.

The LORD rules supreme in heaven, greater than the roar of the ocean, more powerful than the waves of the sea.

He made rich soil become a salty wasteland because of the wickedness of those who lived there.

"In the time of Noah I promised never again to flood the earth. Now I promise not to be angry with you again; I will not reprimand or punish you.

The LORD builds his home in the heavens, and over the earth he puts the dome of the sky. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. His name is the LORD!

yet they did not realize what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes.

Everybody kept on eating and drinking, and men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat and the flood came and killed them all.

It was faith that made Noah hear God's warnings about things in the future that he could not see. He obeyed God and built a boat in which he and his family were saved. As a result, the world was condemned, and Noah received from God the righteousness that comes by faith.

These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat. The few people in the boat---eight in all---were saved by the water,

Then the LORD God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.

A male and a female of each kind of living being went into the boat with Noah,

that he said, "I will wipe out these people I have created, and also the animals and the birds, because I am sorry that I made any of them."

He made rich soil become a salty wasteland because of the wickedness of those who lived there.

Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned.

But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, death ruled over all human beings, even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam did when he disobeyed God's command. Adam was a figure of the one who was to come.

For sin pays its wage---death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope

For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth.