Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night.

He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep, and laid the foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, 'We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep.'

But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him.

But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.'

"Now his older son was in the field. As he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.

"Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, 'Come at once and sit down for a meal'?

People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage -- right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back.