Genesis 6; Genesis 7; Genesis 8

Genesis 6

1 In time, when men began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them,

2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were attractive; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

3 ADONAI said, "My Spirit will not live in human beings forever, for they too are flesh; therefore their life span is to be 120 years."

4 The N'filim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the ancient heroes, men of renown.

5 ADONAI saw that the people on earth were very wicked, that all the imaginings of their hearts were always of evil only.

6 ADONAI regretted that he had made humankind on the earth; it grieved his heart.

7 ADONAI said, "I will wipe out humankind, whom I have created, from the whole earth; and not only human beings, but animals, creeping things and birds in the air; for I regret that I ever made them."

8 But Noach found grace in the sight of ADONAI.

9 Here is the history of Noach. In his generation, Noach was a man righteous and wholehearted; Noach walked with God.

10 Noach fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Yefet.

11 The earth was corrupt before God, the earth was filled with violence.

12 God saw the earth, and, yes, it was corrupt; for all living beings had corrupted their ways on the earth.

13 God said to Noach, "The end of all living beings has come before me, for because of them the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them along with the earth.

14 Make yourself an ark of gofer-wood; you are to make the ark with rooms and cover it with pitch both outside and inside.

15 Here is how you are to build it: the length of the ark is to be 450 feet, its width seventy-five feet and its height forty-five feet.

16 You are to make an opening for daylight in the ark eighteen inches below its roof. Put a door in its side; and build it with lower, second and third decks.

17 "Then I myself will bring the flood of water over the earth to destroy from under heaven every living thing that breathes; everything on earth will be destroyed.

18 But I will establish my covenant with you; you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons' wives with you.

19 "From everything living, from each kind of living being, you are to bring two into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they are to be male and female.

20 Of each kind of bird, each kind of livestock, and each kind of animal creeping on the ground, two are to come to you, so that they can be kept alive.

21 Also take from all the kinds of food that are eaten, and collect it for yourself; it is to be food for you and for them."

22 This is what Noach did; he did all that God ordered him to do.

Genesis 7

1 ADONAI said to Noach, "Come into the ark, you and all your household; for I have seen that you alone in this generation are righteous before me.

2 Of every clean animal you are to take seven couples, and of the animals that are not clean, one couple;

3 also of the birds in the air take seven couples - in order to preserve their species throughout the earth.

4 For in seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; I will wipe out every living thing that I have made from the face of the earth."

5 Noach did all that ADONAI ordered him to do.

6 Noach was 600 years old when the water flooded the earth.

7 Noach went into the ark with his sons, his wife and his sons' wives, because of the floodwaters.

8 Of clean animals, of animals that are not clean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,

9 couples, male and female, went in to Noach in the ark, as God had ordered Noach.

10 After seven days the water flooded the earth.

11 On the seventeenth day of the second month of the 600th year of Noach's life all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the sky were opened.

12 It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that same day Noach entered the ark with Shem, Ham and Yefet the sons of Noach, Noach's wife and the three wives of his sons accompanying them;

14 they, and every animal of every species, all the livestock of every species, every animal that creeps on the ground of every species, and every bird of every species - all sorts of winged creatures.

15 They went in to Noach in the ark, couples from every kind of living thing that breathes.

16 Those that entered went in, male and female, from every kind of living being, as God had ordered him; and ADONAI shut him inside.

17 The flood was forty days on the earth; the water grew higher and floated the ark, so that it was lifted up off the earth.

18 The water overflowed the earth and grew deeper, until the ark floated on the surface of the water.

19 The water overpowered the earth mightily; all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered;

20 the water covered the mountains by more than twenty-two-and-a-half feet.

21 All living beings that moved on the earth perished - birds, livestock, other animals, insects, and every human being,

22 everything in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life; whatever was on dry land died.

23 He wiped out every living thing on the surface of the ground - not only human beings, but livestock, creeping animals and birds in the air. They were wiped out from the earth; only Noach was left, along with those who were with him in the ark.

24 The water held power over the earth for 150 days.

Genesis 8

1 God remembered Noach, every living thing and all the livestock with him in the ark; so God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to go down.

2 Also the fountains of the deep and the windows of the sky were stopped, the rain from the sky was restrained,

3 and the water came back from completely covering the earth. It was after 150 days that the water went down.

4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

5 The water kept going down until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 After forty days Noach opened the window of the ark which he had built;

7 and he sent out a raven, which flew back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.

8 Then he sent out a dove, to see if the water had gone from the surface of the ground.

9 But the dove found no place for her feet to rest, so she returned to him in the ark, because the water still covered the whole earth. He put out his hand, took her and brought her in to him in the ark.

10 He waited another seven days and again sent the dove out from the ark.

11 The dove came in to him in the evening, and there in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf, so Noach knew that the water had cleared from the earth.

12 He waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, and she didn't return to him any more.

13 By the first day of the first month of the 601st year the water had dried up from off the earth; so Noach removed the covering of the ark and looked; and, yes, the surface of the ground was dry.

14 It was on the twenty-seventh day of the second month that the earth was dry.

15 God said to Noach,

16 "Go out from the ark, you, your wife, your sons and your son's wives with you.

17 Bring out with you every living thing you have with you - birds, livestock and every animal that creeps on the earth - so that they can swarm on the earth, be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

18 So Noach went out with his sons, his wife and his sons' wives;

19 every animal, every creeping thing and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

20 Noach built an altar to ADONAI. Then he took from every clean animal and every clean bird, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 ADONAI smelled the sweet aroma, and ADONAI said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, since the imaginings of a person's heart are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy all living things, as I have done.

22 So long as the earth exists, sowing time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease."