Genesis 8-14

New American Standard Bible

The Flood Subsides

8 But ^(A)God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark; and ^(B)God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. ² Also ^(C)the fountains of the deep and the ^[a]floodgates of the sky were closed, and ^(D)the rain from the sky was restrained; ³ and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end ^(E)of 150 days the water decreased. ⁴ Then in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, ^(F)the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ And the water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶ Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the ^(G)window of the ark which he had made; ⁷ and he sent out a raven, and it ^[b]flew here and there until the water was dried up ^[c]from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a ^[d]dove, to see if the water was low on the ^[e]surface of the land; ⁹ but the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot, so it returned to him in the ark, for the water was on the ^[f]surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took it, and brought it into the ark to himself. ¹⁰ So he waited another seven days longer; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ And the dove came to him in ^[g]the evening, and behold, in its ^[h]beak was a fresh olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was low on the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days longer, and sent out ^(H)the dove; but it did not return to him again.

¹³ Now it came about in the ^(I)six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, that the water was dried up ^[i]from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the ^[j]surface of the ground had dried up. ¹⁴ And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. ¹⁵ Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth, that they may ^[k](J)breed abundantly on the earth, and ^(K)be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹ Every animal, every crawling thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out ^[l]by their families from the ark.

²⁰ Then Noah built ^(L)an altar to the Lord, and took some of every kind of ^(M)clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered ^(N)burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord ^(O)smelled the soothing aroma, and the Lord said ^[m]to Himself, “I will never again ^(P)curse the ground on account of man, for ^(Q)the ^[n]intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; ^(R)and I will never again ^[o]destroy every living thing, as I have done.

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “^(U)Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky; on everything that crawls on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. They are handed over to you. ³ Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, ^(V)as I gave the green plant. ⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ^(W)its blood. ⁵ I certainly will require ^[p](X)your lifeblood; ^[q](Y)from every animal I will require it. And ^[r]from every person, ^[s]from every man as his brother I will require the life of a person.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, ^(AC)I Myself am establishing My covenant with you, and with your ^[u]descendants after you; ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, every animal of the earth. ¹¹ I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^(AD)never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, ^(AE)nor shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² God said, “This is ^(AF)the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for ^[v]all future generations; ¹³ I have set My ^(AG)rainbow in the cloud, and it shall ^[w]serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, ¹⁵ and ^(AH)I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and ^(AI)never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the cloud, then I will look at it, to remember the ^(AJ)everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

¹⁸ Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and ^(AK)Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah, and ^(AL)from these the whole earth was ^[x]populated.

²⁰ Then Noah began ^[y]farming and planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine and ^(AM)became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, ^(AN)saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were ^[z]turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵ So he said,

²⁶ He also said,

²⁸ Noah lived 350 years after the flood. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

Descendants of Noah

10 Now these are the records of the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the flood.

^2 (AS)The sons of Japheth were ^(AT)Gomer, Magog, ^(AU)Madai, ^(AV)Javan, Tubal, ^(AW)Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were ^(AX)Ashkenaz, ^[ad]Riphath, and ^(AY)Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, ^(AZ)Tarshish, Kittim, and ^[ae]Dodanim. ⁵ From these the people of the coastlands of the nations ^[af]were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

^6 (BA)The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush were ^(BB)Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, ^(BC)Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were ^(BD)Sheba and ^(BE)Dedan. ⁸ Now Cush fathered Nimrod; he ^[ag]became a mighty one on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was ^[ah](BF)Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of ^(BG)Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went ^(BH)to Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ¹³ Mizraim fathered ^(BI)Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ^14 (BJ)Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan fathered ^(BK)Sidon, his firstborn, and ^(BL)Heth, ^16 (BM)the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, ¹⁷ the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, ¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. ^19 (BN)The territory of the Canaanite ^[ai]extended from Sidon ^[aj]going toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; and ^[ak]going toward ^(BO)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.

²¹ Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born. ^22 (BP)The sons of Shem were ^(BQ)Elam, Asshur, ^(BR)Arpachshad, ^(BS)Lud, and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram were ^(BT)Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴ Arpachshad fathered ^(BU)Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. ^25 (BV)Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was ^[al]Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ^28 [am]Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all of these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ Now their ^[an]settlement ^[ao]extended from Mesha ^[ap]going toward Sephar, the hill country of the east. ³¹ These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their descendants, by their nations; and ^(BW)out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11 Now all the earth ^[aq]used the same language and ^[ar]the same words. ² And it came about, as they journeyed ^[as]east, that they found a plain in the land ^(BX)of Shinar and ^[at]settled there. ³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and ^[au]fire them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used ^(BY)tar for mortar. ⁴ And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top ^(BZ)will reach into heaven, and let’s make ^(CA)a name for ourselves; otherwise we ^(CB)will be scattered abroad over the face of all the earth.” ⁵ Now ^(CC)the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the ^[av]men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have ^[aw](CD)the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be ^[ax]impossible for them. ⁷ Come, ^[ay](CE)let Us go down and there ^(CF)confuse their ^[az]language, so that they will not understand one another’s ^[ba]speech.” ⁸ So the Lord ^(CG)scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore it was named ^[bb](CH)Babel, because there the Lord confused the ^[bc]language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

^10 (CI)These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood; ¹¹ and Shem lived five hundred years after he fathered Arpachshad, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹² Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and fathered Shelah; ¹³ and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he fathered Shelah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Shelah lived thirty years, and fathered Eber; ¹⁵ and Shelah lived 403 years after he fathered Eber, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ Eber lived thirty-four years, and fathered Peleg; ¹⁷ and Eber lived 430 years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ Peleg lived thirty years, and fathered Reu; ¹⁹ and Peleg lived 209 years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years, and fathered Serug; ²¹ and Reu lived 207 years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²² Serug lived thirty years, and fathered Nahor; ²³ and Serug lived two hundred years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and fathered ^(CJ)Terah; ²⁵ and Nahor lived 119 years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

²⁶ Terah lived seventy years, and ^(CK)fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and ^(CL)Haran fathered ^(CM)Lot. ²⁸ Haran died ^[bd]during the lifetime of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in ^(CN)Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and ^(CO)Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was ^(CP)Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was ^(CQ)Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah ^[be]and Iscah. ^30 (CR)Sarai was unable to conceive; she did not have a child.

³¹ Now Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they departed ^[bf]together from ^(CS)Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran and ^[bg]settled there. ³² The days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now ^(CT)the Lord said to Abram,

⁴ So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and ^(CZ)Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their ^(DA)possessions which they had accumulated, and ^(DB)the ^[bj]people which they had acquired in Haran, and they ^[bk]set out for the land of Canaan; ^(DC)so they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the site of ^(DD)Shechem, to the ^[bl]oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷ And the Lord ^(DE)appeared to Abram and said, “^(DF)To your ^[bm]descendants I will give this land.” So he built ^(DG)an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. ⁸ Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with ^(DH)Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and ^(DI)called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward ^(DJ)the ^[bn]Negev.

¹⁰ Now there was ^(DK)a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was ^(DL)severe in the land. ¹¹ It came about, when he ^[bo]was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, “See now, I know that you are a ^[bp](DM)beautiful woman; ^12 (DN)and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Please say that you are ^(DO)my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that ^[bq](DP)I may live on account of you.” ¹⁴ Now it came about, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians ^[br]saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and ^(DQ)the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ Therefore ^(DR)he treated Abram well for her sake; and ^[bs](DS)he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord ^(DT)struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “^(DU)What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? Now then, ^[bt]here is your wife, take her and go!” ²⁰ And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they ^[bu]escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Abram and Lot

13 So Abram went up from Egypt to ^(DV)the ^[bv]Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.

² Now Abram was ^(DW)very rich in livestock, silver, and gold. ³ And he went ^[bw]on his journeys from the ^[bx]Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, ^(DX)between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the place of the ^(DY)altar which he had made there previously; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. ⁵ Now ^(DZ)Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents. ⁶ And ^(EA)the land could not ^[by]support both of them ^[bz]while living together, ^(EB)for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. ^7 (EC)And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now ^(ED)the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.

^8 (EE)So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are relatives! ⁹ Is the entire land not before you? Please separate from me; if you choose the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left.” ¹⁰ Lot raised his eyes and saw all the ^[ca]vicinity of the ^(EF)Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord ^(EG)destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like ^(EH)the garden of the Lord, ^(EI)like the land of Egypt ^[cb]going toward ^(EJ)Zoar. ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself all the ^[cc]vicinity of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. So they separated from each other. ¹² Abram ^[cd]settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot ^[ce]settled in ^(EK)the cities of the ^[cf]vicinity of the Jordan, and moved his tents as far as Sodom. ¹³ Now ^(EL)the men of Sodom were ^[cg]exceedingly wicked ^(EM)sinners against the Lord.

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “^(EN)Now raise your eyes and look from the place where you are, ^(EO)northward and southward, and eastward and westward; ^15 (EP)for all the land which you see ^(EQ)I will give to you and to your ^[ch]descendants forever. ¹⁶ I will make your ^[ci]descendants ^(ER)as plentiful as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, then your ^[cj]descendants could also be counted. ¹⁷ Arise, ^(ES)walk about in the land through its length and width; for ^(ET)I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the ^[ck](EU)oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and there he built ^(EV)an altar to the Lord.

War of the Kings

14 And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of ^(EW)Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of ^(EX)Elam, and Tidal king of ^[cl]Goiim, ² that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of ^(EY)Admah, and Shemeber king of ^(EZ)Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, ^(FA)Zoar). ³ All these kings ^[cm]came as allies to ^(FB)the Valley of Siddim (that is, ^(FC)the Salt Sea). ⁴ For twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵ And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and ^[cn]defeated the ^(FD)Rephaim in ^(FE)Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in ^[co](FF)Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶ and the ^(FG)Horites on their Mount Seir, as far as ^(FH)El-paran, which is by the wilderness. ⁷ Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, ^(FI)Kadesh), and ^[cp]conquered all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who lived in ^(FJ)Hazazon-tamar. ⁸ And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they lined up for battle against them in ^(FK)the Valley of Siddim, ⁹ against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of ^[cq]Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰ Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and ^(FL)the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell ^[cr]into them. But those who survived fled to the ^(FM)hill country. ¹¹ Then they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed. ¹² They also took Lot, ^(FN)Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, ^(FO)for he was living in Sodom.

¹³ Then ^[cs]a survivor came and told Abram the ^(FP)Hebrew. Now he was residing by the ^[ct](FQ)oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and they were ^[cu](FR)allies with Abram. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that ^(FS)his relative had been taken captive, he ^[cv]led out his trained men, ^(FT)born in his house, numbering 318, and went in pursuit as far as ^(FU)Dan. ¹⁵ Then ^(FV)he divided ^[cw]his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and ^[cx]defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is ^[cy]north of ^(FW)Damascus. ¹⁶ He ^(FX)brought back all the possessions, and also brought back ^(FY)his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the other people.

God’s Promise to Abram

¹⁷ Then after his return from the ^[cz]defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, ^(FZ)the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, ^(GA)the King’s Valley). ¹⁸ And ^(GB)Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out ^(GC)bread and wine; now he was a ^(GD)priest of ^[da]God Most High. ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said,

And ^(GF)he gave him a tenth of everything. ²¹ Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the ^[de]people to me and take the possessions for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have ^[df]sworn to the Lord ^[dg](GG)God Most High, ^[dh](GH)Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that ^(GI)I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, so that you do not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ^24 [di]I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, ^(GJ)Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”