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Genesis 2-9
Good News Translation
Genesis 2-9
Good News Translation
2 And so the whole universe was completed. 2 (A)By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working. 3 He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day, because by that day he had completed his creation[a] and stopped working. 4 And that is how the universe was created.
The Garden of Eden
When the Lord[b] God made the universe, 5 there were no plants on the earth and no seeds had sprouted, because he had not sent any rain, and there was no one to cultivate the land; 6 but water would come up from beneath the surface and water the ground.
7 (B)Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and formed a man[c] out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.
8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there he put the man he had formed. 9 (C)He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there and produce good fruit. In the middle of the garden stood the tree that gives life and the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.[d]
10 A stream flowed in Eden and watered the garden; beyond Eden it divided into four rivers. 11 The first river is the Pishon; it flows around the country of Havilah. (12 Pure gold is found there and also rare perfume and precious stones.) 13 The second river is the Gihon; it flows around the country of Cush.[e] 14 The third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. 16 He told him, “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, 17 except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.[f] You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him.” 19 So he took some soil from the ground and formed all the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and that is how they all got their names. 20 So the man named all the birds and all the animals; but not one of them was a suitable companion to help him.
21 Then the Lord God made the man fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh. 22 He formed a woman out of the rib and brought her to him. 23 Then the man said,
“At last, here is one of my own kind—
Bone taken from my bone, and flesh from my flesh.
‘Woman’ is her name because she was taken out of man.”[g]
24 (D)That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and they become one.
25 The man and the woman were both naked, but they were not embarrassed.
Human Disobedience
3 (E)Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the Lord God had made. The snake asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”
2 “We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden,” the woman answered, 3 “except the tree in the middle of it. God told us not to eat the fruit of that tree or even touch it; if we do, we will die.”
4 The snake replied, “That's not true; you will not die. 5 God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God[h] and know what is good and what is bad.”[i]
6 The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it. 7 As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves.
8 That evening they heard the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees. 9 But the Lord God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?”
12 The man answered, “The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 (F)The Lord God asked the woman, “Why did you do this?”
She replied, “The snake tricked me into eating it.”
God Pronounces Judgment
14 Then the Lord God said to the snake, “You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live. 15 (G)I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's[j] heel.”
16 And he said to the woman, “I will increase your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband, yet you will be subject to him.”
17 (H)And he said to the man, “You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. 18 It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. 19 You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again.”
20 Adam[k] named his wife Eve,[l] because she was the mother of all human beings. 21 And the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his wife, and he clothed them.
Adam and Eve Are Sent Out of the Garden
22 (I)Then the Lord God said, “Now these human beings have become like one of us and have knowledge of what is good and what is bad.[m] They must not be allowed to take fruit from the tree that gives life, eat it, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden and made them cultivate the soil from which they had been formed. 24 Then at the east side of the garden he put living creatures[n] and a flaming sword which turned in all directions. This was to keep anyone from coming near the tree that gives life.
Cain and Abel
4 Then Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she became pregnant. She bore a son and said, “By the Lord's help I have gotten a son.” So she named him Cain.[o] 2 Later she gave birth to another son, Abel. Abel became a shepherd, but Cain was a farmer. 3 After some time Cain brought some of his harvest and gave it as an offering to the Lord. 4 (J)Then Abel brought the first lamb born to one of his sheep, killed it, and gave the best parts of it as an offering. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, 5 but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious, and he scowled in anger. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why that scowl on your face? 7 If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling;[p] but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door. It wants to rule you, but you must overcome it.”
8 (K)Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let's go out in the fields.”[q] When they were out in the fields, Cain turned on his brother and killed him.
9 The Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
He answered, “I don't know. Am I supposed to take care of my brother?”
10 (L)Then the Lord said, “Why have you done this terrible thing? Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground, like a voice calling for revenge. 11 You are placed under a curse and can no longer farm the soil. It has soaked up your brother's blood as if it had opened its mouth to receive it when you killed him. 12 If you try to grow crops, the soil will not produce anything; you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
13 And Cain said to the Lord, “This punishment is too hard for me to bear. 14 You are driving me off the land and away from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me.”
15 But the Lord answered, “No. If anyone kills you, seven lives will be taken in revenge.” So the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who met him not to kill him. 16 And Cain went away from the Lord's presence and lived in a land called “Wandering,” which is east of Eden.
The Descendants of Cain
17 Cain and his wife had a son and named him Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son. 18 Enoch had a son named Irad, who was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael had a son named Methushael, who was the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech had two wives, Adah and Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the ancestor of those who raise livestock and live in tents. 21 His brother was Jubal, the ancestor of all musicians who play the harp and the flute. 22 Zillah gave birth to Tubal Cain, who made all kinds of tools[r] out of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal Cain was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me:
I have killed a young man because he struck me.
24 If seven lives are taken to pay for killing Cain,
Seventy-seven will be taken if anyone kills me.”
Seth and Enosh
25 Adam and his wife had another son. She said, “God has given me a son to replace Abel, whom Cain killed.” So she named him Seth.[s] 26 Seth had a son whom he named Enosh. It was then that people began using the Lord's holy name in worship.
The Descendants of Adam(M)
5 (N)This is the list of the descendants of Adam. (When God created human beings, he made them like himself. 2 (O)He created them male and female, blessed them, and named them “Human Beings.”) 3 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was like him, and he named him Seth. 4 After that, Adam lived another 800 years. He had other children 5 and died at the age of 930.
6 When Seth was 105, he had a son, Enosh, 7 and then lived another 807 years. He had other children 8 and died at the age of 912.
9 When Enosh was 90, he had a son, Kenan, 10 and then lived another 815 years. He had other children 11 and died at the age of 905.
12 When Kenan was 70, he had a son, Mahalalel, 13 and then lived another 840 years. He had other children 14 and died at the age of 910.
15 When Mahalalel was 65, he had a son, Jared, 16 and then lived another 830 years. He had other children 17 and died at the age of 895.
18 When Jared was 162, he had a son, Enoch, 19 and then lived another 800 years. He had other children 20 and died at the age of 962.
21 When Enoch was 65, he had a son, Methuselah. 22 After that, Enoch lived in fellowship with God for 300 years and had other children. 23 He lived to be 365 years old. 24 (P)He spent his life in fellowship with God, and then he disappeared, because God took him away.
25 When Methuselah was 187, he had a son, Lamech, 26 and then lived another 782 years. He had other children 27 and died at the age of 969.
28 When Lamech was 182, he had a son 29 and said, “From the very ground on which the Lord put a curse, this child will bring us relief from all our hard work”; so he named him Noah.[t] 30 Lamech lived another 595 years. He had other children 31 and died at the age of 777.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Human Wickedness
6 (Q)When people had spread all over the world, and daughters were being born, 2 some of the heavenly beings[u] saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked. 3 Then the Lord said, “I will not allow people to live forever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years.” 4 (R)In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and the heavenly beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago.
5 (S)When the Lord saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time, 6 he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret 7 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.” 8 But the Lord was pleased with Noah.
Noah
9-10 (T)This is the story of Noah. He had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah had no faults and was the only good man of his time. He lived in fellowship with God, 11 but everyone else was evil in God's sight, and violence had spread everywhere. 12 God looked at the world and saw that it was evil, for the people were all living evil lives.
13 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. 14 Build a boat for yourself out of good timber; make rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out. 15 Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Make a roof[v] for the boat and leave a space of 18 inches between the roof[w] and the sides. Build it with three decks and put a door in the side. 17 I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die, 18 but I will make a covenant with you. Go into the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. 19-20 Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and of every kind of bird, in order to keep them alive. 21 Take along all kinds of food for you and for them.” 22 (U)Noah did everything that God commanded.
The Flood
7 The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with your whole family; I have found that you are the only one in all the world who does what is right. 2 Take with you seven pairs of each kind of ritually clean animal, but only one pair of each kind of unclean animal. 3 Take also seven pairs of each kind of bird. Do this so that every kind of animal and bird will be kept alive to reproduce again on the earth. 4 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.” 5 And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came on the earth. 7 (V)He and his wife, and his sons and their wives, went into the boat to escape the flood. 8 A male and a female of every kind of animal and bird, whether ritually clean or unclean, 9 went into the boat with Noah, as God had commanded. 10 Seven days later the flood came.
11 (W)When Noah was six hundred years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened, 12 and rain fell on the earth for forty days and nights. 13 On that same day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. 14 With them went every kind of animal, domestic and wild, large and small, and every kind of bird. 15 A male and a female of each kind of living being went into the boat with Noah, 16 as God had commanded. Then the Lord shut the door behind Noah.
17 The flood continued for forty days, and the water became deep enough for the boat to float. 18 The water became deeper, and the boat drifted on the surface. 19 It became so deep that it covered the highest mountains; 20 it went on rising until it was about twenty-five feet above the tops of the mountains. 21 Every living being on the earth died—every bird, every animal, and every person. 22 Everything on earth that breathed died. 23 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. 24 The water did not start going down for a hundred and fifty days.
The End of the Flood
8 God had not forgotten Noah and all the animals with him in the boat; he caused a wind to blow, and the water started going down. 2 The outlets of the water beneath the earth and the floodgates of the sky were closed. The rain stopped, 3 and the water gradually went down for 150 days. 4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the boat came to rest on a mountain in the Ararat range. 5 The water kept going down, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.
6 After forty days Noah opened a window 7 and sent out a raven. It did not come back, but kept flying around until the water was completely gone. 8 Meanwhile, Noah sent out a dove to see if the water had gone down, 9 but since the water still covered all the land, the dove did not find a place to light. It flew back to the boat, and Noah reached out and took it in. 10 He waited another seven days and sent out the dove again. 11 It returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. So Noah knew that the water had gone down. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove once more; this time it did not come back.
13 When Noah was 601 years old, on the first day of the first month, the water was gone. Noah removed the covering of the boat, looked around, and saw that the ground was getting dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
15 God said to Noah, 16 “Go out of the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. 17 Take all the birds and animals out with you, so that they may reproduce and spread over all the earth.” 18 So Noah went out of the boat with his wife, his sons, and their wives. 19 All the animals and birds went out of the boat in groups of their own kind.
Noah Offers a Sacrifice
20 Noah built an altar to the Lord; he took one of each kind of ritually clean animal and bird, and burned them whole as a sacrifice on the altar. 21 The odor of the sacrifice pleased the Lord, and he said to himself, “Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what people do; I know that from the time they are young their thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time. 22 As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
God's Covenant with Noah
9 (X)God blessed Noah and his sons and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth. 2 All the animals, birds, and fish will live in fear of you. They are all placed under your power. 3 Now you can eat them, as well as green plants; I give them all to you for food. 4 (Y)The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood. 5 If anyone takes human life, he will be punished. I will punish with death any animal that takes a human life. 6 (Z)Human beings were made like God, so whoever murders one of them will be killed by someone else.
7 (AA)“You must have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth.”
8 God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “I am now making my covenant with you and with your descendants, 10 and with all living beings—all birds and all animals—everything that came out of the boat with you. 11 With these words I make my covenant with you: I promise that never again will all living beings be destroyed by a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth. 12 As a sign of this everlasting covenant which I am making with you and with all living beings, 13 I am putting my bow in the clouds. It will be the sign of my covenant with the world. 14 Whenever I cover the sky with clouds and the rainbow appears, 15 I will remember my promise to you and to all the animals that a flood will never again destroy all living beings. 16 When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between me and all living beings on earth. 17 That is the sign of the promise which I am making to all living beings.”
Noah and His Sons
18 The sons of Noah who went out of the boat were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three sons of Noah were the ancestors of all the people on earth.
20 Noah, who was a farmer, was the first man to plant a vineyard. 21 After he drank some of the wine, he became drunk, took off his clothes, and lay naked in his tent. 22 When Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked, he went out and told his two brothers. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a robe and held it behind them on their shoulders. They walked backward into the tent and covered their father, keeping their faces turned away so as not to see him naked. 24 When Noah sobered up and learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“A curse on Canaan!
He will be a slave to his brothers.
26 Give praise to the Lord, the God of Shem!
Canaan will be the slave of Shem.
27 May God cause Japheth[x] to increase!
May his descendants live with the people of Shem!
Canaan will be the slave of Japheth.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years 29 and died at the age of 950.
Footnotes
- Genesis 2:3 by that day he had completed his creation; or on that day he completed his creation.
- Genesis 2:4 Where the Hebrew text has Yahweh, traditionally transliterated as Jehovah, this translation employs Lord with capital letters, following a usage which is widespread in English versions.
- Genesis 2:7 The Hebrew words for “man” and “ground” have similar sounds.
- Genesis 2:9 knowledge of what is good and what is bad; or knowledge of everything.
- Genesis 2:13 Cush (of Mesopotamia); or Ethiopia.
- Genesis 2:17 knowledge of what is good and what is bad; or knowledge of everything.
- Genesis 2:23 The Hebrew words for “woman” and “man” have rather similar sounds.
- Genesis 3:5 God; or the gods.
- Genesis 3:5 know what is good and what is bad; or know everything.
- Genesis 3:15 her offspring's; or their.
- Genesis 3:20 This name in Hebrew means “all human beings.”
- Genesis 3:20 This name sounds similar to the Hebrew word for “living,” which is rendered in this context as “human beings.”
- Genesis 3:22 knowledge of what is good and what is bad; or knowledge of everything.
- Genesis 3:24 See Word List.
- Genesis 4:1 This name sounds like the Hebrew for “gotten.”
- Genesis 4:7 you would be smiling; or I would have accepted your offering.
- Genesis 4:8 Some ancient translations Let's go out in the fields; Hebrew does not have these words.
- Genesis 4:22 who made all kinds of tools; one ancient translation ancestor of all metalworkers.
- Genesis 4:25 This name sounds like the Hebrew for “has given.”
- Genesis 5:29 This name sounds like the Hebrew for “relief.”
- Genesis 6:2 heavenly beings; or sons of the gods; or sons of God.
- Genesis 6:16 roof; or window.
- Genesis 6:16 roof; or window.
- Genesis 9:27 This name sounds like the Hebrew for “increase.”
Genesis 2-9
New International Version
Genesis 2-9
New International Version
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.(A)
2 By the seventh day(B) God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.(C) 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,(D) because on it he rested(E) from all the work of creating(F) that he had done.
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account(G) of the heavens and the earth when they were created,(H) when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up,(I) for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth(J) and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed(K) a man[c](L) from the dust(M) of the ground(N) and breathed into his nostrils the breath(O) of life,(P) and the man became a living being.(Q)
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden;(R) and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees(S) that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life(T) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.(U)
10 A river(V) watering the garden flowed from Eden;(W) from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah,(X) where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d](Y) and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[e] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris;(Z) it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.(AA)
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden(AB) to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;(AC) 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,(AD) for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”(AE)
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”(AF)
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals(AG) and all the birds in the sky.(AH) He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called(AI) each living creature,(AJ) that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam[f] no suitable helper(AK) was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;(AL) and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[g] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h](AM) he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;(AN)
she shall be called(AO) ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.(AP)”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united(AQ) to his wife, and they become one flesh.(AR)
25 Adam and his wife were both naked,(AS) and they felt no shame.
The Fall
3 Now the serpent(AT) was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?(AU)”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,(AV) 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”(AW)
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.(AX) 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,(AY) knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable(AZ) for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,(BA) who was with her, and he ate it.(BB) 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;(BC) so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.(BD)
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking(BE) in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid(BF) from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”(BG)
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid(BH) because I was naked;(BI) so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?(BJ) Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?(BK)”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me(BL)—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,(BM) and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed(BN) are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust(BO)
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[i](BP) and hers;(BQ)
he will crush[j] your head,(BR)
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.(BS)
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.(BT)”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’(BU)
“Cursed(BV) is the ground(BW) because of you;
through painful toil(BX) you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.(BY)
18 It will produce thorns and thistles(BZ) for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.(CA)
19 By the sweat of your brow(CB)
you will eat your food(CC)
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”(CD)
20 Adam[k] named his wife Eve,[l](CE) because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.(CF) 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us,(CG) knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life(CH) and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden(CI) to work the ground(CJ) from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[m] of the Garden of Eden(CK) cherubim(CL) and a flaming sword(CM) flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.(CN)
Cain and Abel
4 Adam[n] made love to his wife(CO) Eve,(CP) and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[o](CQ) She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[p] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.(CR)
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.(CS) 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering(CT) to the Lord.(CU) 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions(CV) from some of the firstborn of his flock.(CW) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,(CX) 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?(CY) Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;(CZ) it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.(DA)”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[q] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.(DB)
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”(DC)
“I don’t know,(DD)” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.(DE) 11 Now you are under a curse(DF) and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.(DG) You will be a restless wanderer(DH) on the earth.(DI)”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence;(DJ) I will be a restless wanderer on the earth,(DK) and whoever finds me will kill me.”(DL)
15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[r]; anyone who kills Cain(DM) will suffer vengeance(DN) seven times over.(DO)” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence(DP) and lived in the land of Nod,[s] east of Eden.(DQ)
17 Cain made love to his wife,(DR) and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city,(DS) and he named it after his son(DT) Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married(DU) two women,(DV) one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments(DW) and pipes.(DX) 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged(DY) all kinds of tools out of[t] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed(DZ) a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged(EA) seven times,(EB)
then Lamech seventy-seven times.(EC)”
25 Adam made love to his wife(ED) again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[u](EE) saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”(EF) 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.(EG)
At that time people began to call on[v] the name of the Lord.(EH)
From Adam to Noah
5 This is the written account(EI) of Adam’s family line.(EJ)
When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.(EK) 2 He created them(EL) male and female(EM) and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind”[w] when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image;(EN) and he named him Seth.(EO) 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.(EP)
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father[x] of Enosh.(EQ) 7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.(ER) 10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.(ES) 13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared.(ET) 16 After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.(EU) 19 After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.(EV) 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God(EW) 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God;(EX) then he was no more, because God took him away.(EY)
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech.(EZ) 26 After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah[y](FA) and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.(FB)” 30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old,(FC) he became the father of Shem,(FD) Ham and Japheth.(FE)
Wickedness in the World
6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth(FF) and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God(FG) saw that the daughters(FH) of humans were beautiful,(FI) and they married(FJ) any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit(FK) will not contend with[z] humans forever,(FL) for they are mortal[aa];(FM) their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim(FN) were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans(FO) and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.(FP)
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,(FQ) and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.(FR) 6 The Lord regretted(FS) that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth(FT) the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.(FU)” 8 But Noah(FV) found favor in the eyes of the Lord.(FW)
Noah and the Flood
9 This is the account(FX) of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless(FY) among the people of his time,(FZ) and he walked faithfully with God.(GA) 10 Noah had three sons: Shem,(GB) Ham and Japheth.(GC)
11 Now the earth was corrupt(GD) in God’s sight and was full of violence.(GE) 12 God saw how corrupt(GF) the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.(GG) 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy(GH) both them and the earth.(GI) 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[ab] wood;(GJ) make rooms in it and coat it with pitch(GK) inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[ac] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[ad] high all around.[ae] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters(GL) on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.(GM) 18 But I will establish my covenant with you,(GN) and you will enter the ark(GO)—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.(GP) 20 Two(GQ) of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind(GR) of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.(GS) 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.(GT)
7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family,(GU) because I have found you righteous(GV) in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean(GW) animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive(GX) throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain(GY) on the earth(GZ) for forty days(HA) and forty nights,(HB) and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.(HC)”
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.(HD)
6 Noah was six hundred years old(HE) when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark(HF) to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean(HG) animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.(HH) 10 And after the seven days(HI) the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,(HJ) on the seventeenth day of the second month(HK)—on that day all the springs of the great deep(HL) burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens(HM) were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.(HN)
13 On that very day Noah and his sons,(HO) Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.(HP) 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind,(HQ) everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.(HR) 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.(HS) Then the Lord shut him in.
17 For forty days(HT) the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.(HU) 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[af][ag] (HV) 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.(HW) 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life(HX) in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.(HY) Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.(HZ)
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.(IA)
8 But God remembered(IB) Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth,(IC) and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens(ID) had been closed, and the rain(IE) had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days(IF) the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month(IG) the ark came to rest on the mountains(IH) of Ararat.(II) 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(IJ) Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven,(IK) and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.(IL) 8 Then he sent out a dove(IM) 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.(IN) 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,(IO) 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(IP) the earth was completely dry.
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.(IQ) 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”(IR)
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.(IS) 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord(IT) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean(IU) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings(IV) on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma(IW) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground(IX) because of humans, even though[ah] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.(IY) And never again will I destroy(IZ) all living creatures,(JA) as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,(JB)
cold and heat,
summer and winter,(JC)
day and night
will never cease.”(JD)
God’s Covenant With Noah
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.(JE) 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.(JF) 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.(JG) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.(JH)
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.(JI) 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.(JJ) I will demand an accounting from every animal.(JK) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.(JL)
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;(JM)
for in the image of God(JN)
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”(JO)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you(JP) and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant(JQ) with you:(JR) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.(JS)”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant(JT) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:(JU) 13 I have set my rainbow(JV) in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow(JW) appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant(JX) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.(JY) 16 Whenever the rainbow(JZ) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant(KA) between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant(KB) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
The Sons of Noah
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.(KC) (Ham was the father of Canaan.)(KD) 19 These were the three sons of Noah,(KE) and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.(KF)
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[ai] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine,(KG) he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked(KH) and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
26 He also said,
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!(KL)
May Canaan be the slave(KM) of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[aj] territory;(KN)
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,(KO)
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.(KP)
Footnotes
- Genesis 2:5 Or land; also in verse 6
- Genesis 2:6 Or mist
- Genesis 2:7 The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (adamah); it is also the name Adam (see verse 20).
- Genesis 2:12 Or good; pearls
- Genesis 2:13 Possibly southeast Mesopotamia
- Genesis 2:20 Or the man
- Genesis 2:21 Or took part of the man’s side
- Genesis 2:22 Or part
- Genesis 3:15 Or seed
- Genesis 3:15 Or strike
- Genesis 3:20 Or The man
- Genesis 3:20 Eve probably means living.
- Genesis 3:24 Or placed in front
- Genesis 4:1 Or The man
- Genesis 4:1 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired.
- Genesis 4:1 Or have acquired
- Genesis 4:8 Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text does not have “Let’s go out to the field.”
- Genesis 4:15 Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew Very well
- Genesis 4:16 Nod means wandering (see verses 12 and 14).
- Genesis 4:22 Or who instructed all who work in
- Genesis 4:25 Seth probably means granted.
- Genesis 4:26 Or to proclaim
- Genesis 5:2 Hebrew adam
- Genesis 5:6 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 7-26.
- Genesis 5:29 Noah sounds like the Hebrew for comfort.
- Genesis 6:3 Or My spirit will not remain in
- Genesis 6:3 Or corrupt
- Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Genesis 6:15 That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high
- Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
- Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Genesis 7:20 That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters
- Genesis 7:20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered
- Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for
- Genesis 9:20 Or soil, was the first
- Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.
Good News Translation (GNT) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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