Psalm 97

Psalm 98

A psalm.

8 But God remembered^(A) Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth,^(B) and the waters receded. ² Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens^(C) had been closed, and the rain^(D) had stopped falling from the sky. ³ The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days^(E) the water had gone down, ⁴ and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month^(F) the ark came to rest on the mountains^(G) of Ararat.^{(H) 5} The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶ After forty days^(I) Noah opened a window he had made in the ark ⁷ and sent out a raven,^(J) and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.^{(K) 8} Then he sent out a dove^(L) to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.^{(M) 12} He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

¹³ By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year,^(N) the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month^(O) the earth was completely dry.

²⁹ “Immediately after the distress of those days

³⁰ “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth^[b] will mourn^(B) when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,^(C) with power and great glory.^{[c] 31} And he will send his angels^(D) with a loud trumpet call,^(E) and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

³² “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it^[d] is near, right at the door.^{(F) 34} Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.^{(G) 35} Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.^(H)

The Day and Hour Unknown^(I)(J)

³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[e] but only the Father.^{(K) 37} As it was in the days of Noah,^(L) so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,^(M) up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.^{(N) 40} Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.^{(O) 41} Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.^(P)

⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.^{(Q) 43} But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming,^(R) he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready,^(S) because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,^(T) whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.^{(U) 47} Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.^{(V) 48} But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.^{(W) 50} The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(X)